Class Size Reductions to Mean Aide Layoffs

More than 100 teacher aides and office aides will be laid off, at least temporarily, so that Newport-Mesa Unified School District can cover the costs of reducing class sizes in primary grades, officials said this week.

Under a statewide program, schools that limit first- and second-grade classes to no more than 20 pupils are eligible for a $650 bonus for each of those students. But even with the state funds, Newport-Mesa cannot meet the challenge, officials said.

Limiting first- and second-grade classes to 20 required the district to add 67 teachers at a cost of $3.1 million. The state picked up about $2 million of that, leaving the district to find $1.1 million.

“Something had to give, at least temporarily,” said James M. Ferryman, a Newport-Mesa trustee. Individual schools may rehire the aides using money from their own budgets, and most have said they will, he said.

The district’s financial position is likely to improve in the next few years, officials said, because of a change that will eliminate the district’s dependence on property taxes as a source of revenue.

In years past, high property tax revenue in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa gave the school district more money per student than the state average, which made it ineligible for state funds.

District officials learned last week that, because of declining tax revenue, Newport-Mesa is now eligible to get state money.

Newport-Mesa also expects a windfall from a property sale. The district is in the final stages of negotiations with the city of Costa Mesa to sell 18 acres of land surrounding Costa Mesa High School. That transaction could bring in more than $7 million.