State budget cuts won’t cripple Newport-Mesa

Deirdre Newman

NEWPORT-MESA -- The school district will incur a hit of about $1

million from midyear budget cuts Gov. Gray Davis is expected to sign

today, but it will not be a death blow, Assistant Supt. Mike Fine said.

The district will be fairly immune to the $844 million in total

education cuts, Fine said.

“I think generally K-12 education has come out very good with what the

Legislature recommended,” Fine said. “What they’ve ended up with doesn’t

materially change the impact on Newport-Mesa.”

Of that $1-million hit to the district budget, the biggest blow will

come in the form of energy money -- which, while not cut, is a more

anemic version of what was originally proposed.

Originally budgeted for about $250 million statewide, the one-time

energy block grant has now been reduced to about $75 million, and the

first dibs on those funds will go to the third-year low-performing

schools program, Fine said.

While originally slated to add $720,000 to district coffers, Fine said

the energy funding will probably turn out to be a little less than

$200,000.

But the loss won’t have an immediate effect on district operations

because officials intended to spend the one-time funds on debt-reduction

from conservation efforts already taken.

The district will be affected by other program cuts and deferments,

including three schools that will miss out on the staff bonus awards

program for this year, Fine said. The three schools would have qualified

in the $25,000 range.