Class sizes may rise

Huntington Beach City School District board members are considering cutting teacher positions and increasing class sizes for older elementary students as part of a plan to cut costs.

Board members did not say how many jobs would be axed if the plan is approved.

With a state budget crisis looming, board members met this week at a study session to look at ways to save money.

It was the second such meeting in recent weeks; district staff will now put together a list of priorities, which could be voted on at an April 15 meeting.

“We looked at all lists of potential cuts being done by other districts,” said board member Cathy McGough. “We’ve done all those. There’s nothing left to cut. Then we went through these potential cuts that we’re looking at. They would all have a terrible effect.”

One of the ways to save money — around $600,000 — would be to increase class sizes for older students by one or two. Board members said they hate to do that, but the savings in fewer teachers to pay would be considerable.

“If you add one to two students each classroom, you save a lot of money,” McGough said. “That would likely be the newest teachers on the block. No one wants to do it, but we see the fiscal ease of getting a larger cut by adding a student or two here and there.”

Also likely for the chopping block — less significant, but symbolic — is the board’s own budget, which is about $10,000. That includes travel to conferences and training as well as other costs.

Most board members were opposed to cutting health benefits for employees, which would have to be negotiated with employee unions.

That option ended up low on the list.

But board members all blamed the state for bad fiscal policies and said they were in an impossible situation.

“None of us want any of this, even to have this discussion,” board member Shirley Carey said.

“It’s a matter of choosing probably the best of the worst of a long list.”