Tom Burnham

Tom Burnham became president of the Irvine Unified School District's board on Dec. 6, 1994--the day Orange County filed for bankruptcy. The school district had $107 million in the failed county investment fund, half of which had been borrowed six months earlier to put in the pool. The district lost an estimated $10 million and was forced to lay off 40 employees. Burnham, 41, vice president of human resources at Allergan Inc.

Tom Burnham became president of the Irvine Unified School District's board on Dec. 6, 1994--the day Orange County filed for bankruptcy. The school district had $107 million in the failed county investment fund, half of which had been borrowed six months earlier to put in the pool. The district lost an estimated $10 million and was forced to lay off 40 employees. Burnham, 41, vice president of human resources at Allergan Inc.

Three schools have been chosen to pioneer the Irvine Unified School District's technology plan, but the decision caused some school board members to question the fairness of the process. Irvine High School, Lakeside Middle School and Alderwood Basics Plus Elementary School were chosen for the installation of computers and cabling worth $190,000. The three schools will become "demonstration sites."

With less than two weeks left before the application deadline, the search for a new Irvine Unified School District superintendent has yielded more than 30 candidates. School board members say they hope to have a new superintendent on board by September for the beginning of the school year. The search is conducted by Management Analysis and Planning Associates of Berkeley. "Four or five are very qualified candidates that meet our specifications," school board President Tom Burnham said.

An ambitious plan to create a computer link between all public schools in the city, put in mothballs after the county bankruptcy, is being slowly revived. Irvine Unified School District officials are reworking the $10-million Foundations for the Future campaign, which envisions a community of teachers and students linked by computers. After a new plan is created, Supt. Dennis Smith and Deputy Supt.

The school board Tuesday night narrowed to three the number of executive recruiting firms bidding to assist in the search for an Irvine Unified School District superintendent. The school board will review proposals from three educational consulting firms to conduct an assessment of the 21,500-student school district. School board members want to survey district employees and community members before deciding whether to conduct a nationwide search to replace Supt. David E.

After months of number-crunching and hand-wringing over losses in Orange County's collapsed investment pool, school board members tonight are expected to cut $2.2 million from next school year's $100-million budget. They predict very little effect on students. "All the basic programs will remain the same," school board President Tom Burnham said. "But what we've put together is a survival budget versus an investment budget."

The Irvine Unified School District has scheduled Jan. 30 and 31 "town hall" meetings on the county's fiscal crisis. And the school board on Tuesday will again consider forming a citizens committee to deal with impending budget cuts. The meetings are tentatively planned to take place at school district headquarters on Barranca Parkway. School board President Tom Burnham said the district is seeking to have the meetings broadcast live on cable television.

The threat of bankruptcy still exists for the Irvine Unified School District, where officials are considering obtaining short-term loans due to uncertainty over the county settlement agreement. The cash value of recovery notes promised in the county settlement agreement is critical to the district's ability to pay a $54.5-million bond payment due June 13.

Legislation approved by the state Assembly on Thursday is welcome but not essential to the Irvine Unified School District's contingency plan to secure short-term loans to prevent bankruptcy, district officials said. The legislation, which would allow county school districts to use real estate holdings as collateral for loans, must be approved by the state Senate and signed by the governor to become law.

The Irvine Unified School District, once threatened with insolvency by the Orange County bankruptcy, will spend $471,000 to hire new district office staff members, a move that prompted two school board members to vote against adoption of the tentative budget. Trustees Hank Adler and Tom Burnham said they could not support the $107-million operating budget because of the lack of public discussion about the expenditure, along with an additional $1 million set aside for district reserves.