School district keeping teachers

Newport-Mesa school teachers will avoid the layoffs and buyouts other school districts are facing, district officials said Friday.

While the state is entrenched in a budget crisis and schools will be hit hard across the board, Newport-Mesa is in better shape than most, Deputy Supt. Paul Reed said.

“That’s our job,” Reed said. “We are supposed to balance this out.”

Other school districts are starting to notify teachers of layoffs or buyouts because the law requires school districts to notify teachers before a March 15 deadline.

Due to Newport-Mesa receiving a majority of its funding from local property taxes — roughly 30% of the district’s budget is from the state — schools here won’t be affected as much.

Some might argue the mortgage crisis will affect property taxes, but Reed expects property values to stay ahead of the cuts at the state level.

“No one expects property values to drop 10%,” Reed said in reference to the state’s proposed cuts.

District officials saw the budget crunch coming, and they are going through the same precautions they would take every budget year, but this year’s problems “heightens” the work load, Reed said.

“We are not looking at program reductions on a larger scale like other districts,” Reed said.

But he added there would be fewer new programs introduced and some programs would be assessed to see whether they have met their objectives and, if not, those could be discontinued.

Reed declined to comment on which programs the district is looking into.

While Reed and other district officials are working on the budget, many decisions won’t be made till a tentative budget is reached in early July, Reed said. For now, the district is looking at programs and determining priorities for next year.

The district wants to “create a cushion so if the state comes in with the worst scenario, we are OK,” Reed said.

The worst-case scenario could be if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget follows through with a potential $4.8-billion cut from education and the economy continues to stumble.

“We don’t know how $4 billion in cuts next year will hit us,” said Reed who expects the economy to improve in 2009.

The district will have to borrow additional money this summer when state funds are withheld for allocation from July until September.

“The state has taken its cash-flow problem and pushed it down to local school districts,” Reed said.

The district receives a majority of its funds when residents pay property taxes in December and April.

For now, Reed sees the district as being in good shape, but admits the future is a matter of concern.

If Proposition 98 is suspended, schools will face even deeper cuts.

“What will they cut?” asked Reed. “We don’t know because it’s so political.”

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at daniel.tedford@latimes.com.