District gets a break

Mike Swanson

For the first time in months, the next Laguna Beach school board

meeting won’t include talk of sweeping cuts and a skeleton staff.

Gov. Gray Davis’ revised May budget, which relies more on tax

hikes than program cuts to combat the $38.2 billion state deficit,

included treatment of basic-aid school districts equitably, resulting

in a 4.5% cut to next fiscal year’s district budget instead of the

30% cut included in Davis’ January budget.

The governor’s basic-aid proposals leave the Laguna Beach Unified

School District with a 2003-04 budget of $22,487,521, nearly $4

million more than the interim budget approved by the school board

April 16 and $400,000 less than what the district had hoped for in

December.

“We knew this would have been a horrible summer if Davis didn’t

have this in his May revise,” board member Jan Vickers said. “We

spent so many hours fighting this. Now I’m relieved and excited to

have our planning time back.”

Supt. Theresa Daem said the district and board will spend the next

few months participating in a statewide effort developing a strategy

for permanent resolution.

“We’re taking a moment or two to pause and feel good about

ourselves,” Daem said, “but we have to start thinking about a

permanent resolution that goes beyond this year.”

Daem said the district will also start immediate work on how to

make $400,000 in budget cuts rather than $4 million, which she called

a welcome task.

President of the Laguna Beach Unified Faculty Assn. Dawn Mirone

said her organization’s next step is working to rescind the last four

layoff notices, issued as a result of declining enrollment, Asst.

Supt. Steven Keller said.

“We’re ecstatic that the budget issue was settled as far as the

teachers are concerned,” Mirone said. “We hope that they’ll allow the

district to bring back our last four teachers who were riffed. That

would be even better news.”

District lobbyists called the basic-aid districts’ effort against

Davis’ January budget the biggest grass-roots project they had ever

seen, Vickers said. In a statement released by Daem, she singled

Laguna Beach out among the several districts bombarding Sacramento

with their concerns.

“While this triumph was the result of the combined efforts of the

50-plus basic-aid districts throughout the state,” the statement

says, “Laguna Beach was a very significant player. We jammed fax

machines. We filled voice mail boxes. We flooded offices with

e-mails. And we sent hundreds of letters in measured waves.

“The president of a statewide organization based in Sacramento

told me that everywhere he went he heard about Laguna Beach.”

Several Senate Republicans were publicly critical of Davis’ budget

soon after its noon release Wednesday, with Senate Republican Leader

Jim Brulte was (Rancho Cucamonga) quoted saying, “We’re flexible on

everything but the taxes.”

Assemblyman Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) said he expects “a

tremendous challenge” ahead considering Republicans’ opposition to

the budget, but said the section pertaining to basic-aid districts

“puts that issue to rest at least for this year.” He said he’s

confident the Senate and Assembly’s refusal to endorse Davis’ January

budget will help, but Republicans’ inflexibility will not.

“I saw Mr. [Chris] Cox quoted this morning saying there’s

absolutely no compromise when it comes to taxes,” Simitian said,

“which makes it pretty difficult to take a balanced approach.”

Daem said she hasn’t had the chance to analyze the numbers or the

likelihood of roadblocks hindering the budget’s final approval, but

she’s optimistic that the district can rely on a $400,000 cut rather

than $4 million. She said cuts will start at the district level, not

at school sites, and will involve community input, something she said

Laguna Beach has proved capable of.

“This has been a collective effort by this community,” Daem said.

“Ketta Brown was standing in front of grocery stores lobbying for the

district, the mayor was talking to [state finance director] Steve

Peace. I’m so grateful to everyone who helped us get through this.”