District eyes cuts to budget

Newport-Mesa Unified School District put plans for its budget in motion Tuesday night, but all eyes are still on Sacramento as the district awaits the state’s budget decisions before Newport-Mesa’s is finalized in September.

The district is planning for an $11.4 million drop in revenue for the 2008-09 school year and will have to adjust some programs and services, not renewing some programs or refilling positions that have been vacated.

Deputy Supt. Paul Reed said the budget will be balanced for the 2008-09 school year and will leave the state requirement of more than 3% of funds left in reserves, despite the district’s having to use a portion of its reserves to cover spending.

Increases in budget spending will be partly due to salary increases to most employees at 5.5%, Reed said. Utilities will also have to be adjusted for, and are expected to increase 7 to 8%. Special education will receive an increase in funds, but that is due to the salary increases.

Reed emphasized the projected figures are tentative and await the state’s budget plan, which is slated for June 30 but is anticipated to be presented much later.

The current projections were based on the governor’s May Revise, but Reed acknowledged they were subject to change if the state’s budget proposals were drastically different.

For school board members, the danger lies in the state’s budget crisis, with uncertainty still lingering over what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators’ decisions will be when the final budget is laid out.

“My concern is the unknown factor with the state,” school board member Dana Black said. “We don’t know if the ‘what ifs’ are going to happen yet. One of the things we benefit from having with Mr. Reed and the cabinet is they definitely have a finger on the pulse. We deal with the worst-case scenario instead of waiting.”

Changes to the budget may be made after the state releases its budget later this summer, but those changes can’t yet be determined.

“It is a little difficult to begin to look at it from a different point of view until we know what the state’s budget is,” school board member Judy Franco said. “We have a whole long, hot summer to hope Sacramento comes to its senses and does not cut K through 12.”

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