Budget pares adult ed.

Anxiety overpowered any sense of celebration Tuesday night, as students and faculty of the Huntington Beach Adult School watched school board members vote 5-0 to approve an element of a tentative plan to sharply reduce the school’s services for two years — just hours after the district honored the school as part of Adult Education Week.

“We are not closing the Huntington Beach Adult School,” board President Bonnie Castrey said at the beginning of the meeting to cheers and applause. “We honor the Huntington Beach Adult School for the success of its education program — and I mean that sincerely. … I wanted to assure you that lifelong learning and the education of all of our students is critical.”

“There’s no place like it in Orange County,” student Linda Ross said of the school, which provides a variety of continuing education classes.

Huntington Beach Union High School District Supt. Van Riley told the meeting’s hundreds of attendees that his plan was to downsize the school to 20% to 40% of capacity for the next two years as a way to save during the district’s budget crisis, while a new facility for the school is constructed.

The board agreed to issue tentative layoff notices for 30 of the school’s full-time equivalent teaching positions, as well as three of the district’s media specialists, by a legally required March 15 deadline.

The meeting began with a reception to honor the school’s Lifelong Learner awardees; the mayor and other city representatives were on hand to give out awards as part of the city’s yearlong centennial celebration. March is Education Month, and this week is Adult Education Week nationwide.

Children of Adult School students wielded colorful protest signs outside the packed boardroom and an overflow room set up next door. Three hundred e-mails were delivered to the board, and dozens of people spoke on behalf of the school at the five-hour meeting, which lasted until midnight.

The district is required by the state to cut $9 million in ongoing expenses for several years, beginning in the 2009-10 school year; scaling back the school would glean about $7 million of that sum.

Trustees have not yet approved Riley’s full budget plan; it was necessary to make a general decision Tuesday night about which cuts will be made in order to fulfill county budget requirements, Riley said.

The district had to take measures to free up categorical funds should they be needed, Riley said; none of the categorical cutbacks is set in stone until further review takes place.

“This is a huge thing, and we had no time to plan,” Riley said, citing the short timeline afforded by legislators to prepare the budget. “This district loves adult ed. — we’re committed to it.”

Critics said the temporary cutbacks during a time of recession would be detrimental to the area’s job seekers, who flock to the school’s computer and English-learning programs to remain competitive against younger college and high school graduates. The school also offers an acclaimed preschool parent-education program.

“I would love to see that the adult education, the computer center especially, stay open and run with a full schedule,” student and retired teacher Barbara Bell said.

Scaling back the Adult School would save about $500,000 per year in fees that the district spends to run the school on a leased elementary school site, Riley said.

After the district discontinues its lease, should the district’s plan go through, it will relocate a smaller assortment of classes to its own campuses.

The board also unanimously approved spending $8.5 million to construct the new facility in time for its planned fall 2011 opening.

Counselors, media specialists, and past and current students of the district’s Model United Nations program also spoke out about board decisions that could affect them.

“I appreciate your concern for public education,” Castrey said to the audience. “Public education is indeed a cornerstone of American democracy.”

CANDICE BAKER may be reached at (714) 966-4631 or at [email protected].