School district reviews programs

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District may undergo a streamlining in the near future, as administrators are evaluating dozens of programs to determine whether they justify their costs and provide enough benefits to students.

Since November, a team led by Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard has conducted reviews of nearly every major program in the Newport-Mesa district. The district is composing its budget for the next school year, and the review team’s findings may lead to some programs being cut, reduced or combined.

Administrators are expected to present their report to the school board this month.

The board asked Hubbard to initiate the study in August, shortly after he came on as superintendent. Trustee Martha Fluor said the main purpose of the review was to rate programs’ efficiency.

She noted, though, that if Newport-Mesa Unified ended up saving money, the funds could go to boost teacher salaries. Newport-Mesa district teachers, who have the lowest average salaries in any unified district in Orange County, are in talks with the district for higher wages.

“We want to make sure the programs we do are serving the needs of our students,” Fluor said. “If money is freed up, that certainly is part of the negotiating process.”

Hubbard acknowledged that cutting programs could free up money for teachers, but he added that administrators would decide how to divert funds.

“We are committed to improving salaries for our teachers,” Hubbard said. “Of course, when you experience savings anywhere, it makes that easier. But we don’t want to lose sight of our No. 1 priority, which is to make life better for kids.”

School board President Judy Franco said the study aimed to review every program in Newport-Mesa outside of the core curriculum.

Among those on the docket are Advancement Via Individual Determination, which prepares struggling students for college and careers; Early College High School and Orange Coast Middle College High School, the district’s two hybrid high school-college sites; and Project ASK, a federally-funded intervention program for at-risk students.