Consultant to Tackle Schools’ Fiscal Woes

It was a word that caught battle-weary Laguna Beach Unified School board members completely off guard: fun.

“This is fun for me,” said Carole F. Bailey during a board interview to determine whether her consulting team would be hired temporarily to help the district’s beleaguered business department. “We’re going to have a good time turning this district around.”

Clearly stunned at the prospect, board President Susan Mas responded dryly, “It’s been a long time since we’ve had any fun, Carole.”

If the concept of having fun here is too big a stretch to contemplate, trustees did at least seem relieved after voting unanimously Tuesday night to sign a contract with Bailey, a retired assistant superintendent for Capistrano Unified School District’s business and fiscal services department.

The Laguna Beach district has struggled for a year with unwieldy budget problems that seem only to get worse.

Officials resolved a $1.4-million deficit in the current budget by cutting salaries districtwide and borrowing $850,000.

Before interviewing Bailey, trustees heard a downbeat report from an auditing firm questioning the district’s ability to operate in 1997-98 without further budget cuts and revealing that district revenue is $133,000 less than projected.

Consultant Linda Saddlemire called it “very rare” for a school district to be so immersed in fiscal uncertainty and said it is “critical” that the business office be adequately staffed so the board can obtain accurate financial information.

Administrators are hoping Bailey and her team--Technical Services/Support--can help, partly by compiling the information needed to begin building a balanced budget for the next fiscal year.

The group will be paid $21,000 for part-time services through June.

Meanwhile, the board hopes soon to hire a permanent business manager to replace Fiscal Services Director Lisa Howell, who is leaving the district.