CRISIS LOOMS FOR DISTRICT STATE MAY TAKE OVER FINANCES.

NORTH EDWARDS - Facing a $1.3 million deficit, Muroc Joint Unified School District administrators say layoffs will be necessary after the failure of a proposal to have teachers give up bonuses.

The deficit means Kern County officials likely will reject the district's $22.9 million 2001-2002 budget and call in a state budget review panel to analyze the district's spending.

``I don't know how much leverage the committee will have. They may force us to do things or strongly recommend things. We've been on a budget watch by the county. Now this will bring the state into it,'' Superintendent Bertha Boullion said Monday.

Muroc administrators in July estimated the deficit at $2.2 million and said the district was being hit by higher energy bills, rising health benefit costs and a decrease in federal aid paid because the district contains Edwards Air Force Base, where four of its seven schools are.

They made spending cuts and asked teachers and nonteaching employees to give up bonuses, which would have saved the district more than $500,000.

The union that represents nonteaching employees voted to give up the bonuses in an 80-8 vote.

The teachers union last week approved giving up the bonuses - but also sought a promise that the bonuses would be restored if the district gets any new income above what is expected now, district officials said.

The district cannot make that guarantee, Boullion said.

``Given our financial situation, I could not further obligate the district to additional expenditures in salary for this current school year,'' Boullion said.

District officials said they will recommend layoffs in both teaching and nonteaching staff, but won't make the number public until the board meeting on Wednesday.

Layoffs of teachers would occur in the 2002-03 school year, since the deadline for laying off teachers this year has already passed. By state law, teachers not rehired for the following school year need to be notified by March 15, Boullion said.

Layoffs of classified staff could occur before the end of the current school year, Boullion said.

Teachers union officials said they want the district to be free of fiscal troubles but took issue with how the district is handling its finances.

``We simply want the district to be financially healthy. That's the association's goal,'' said Angela Emerson, a California Teachers Association consultant. ``We're not convinced necessarily that the approach that's being taken at this point is the best for the students and for the teachers association.''

Emerson said one option being considered by the district is enlarging class sizes, which teachers oppose. The district has more than 135 teachers, Boullion said.

In earlier spending cuts, the district eliminated the librarian position, decreased substitute teacher pay and increased meal prices.

The district also eliminated the principal's position at Bailey Avenue Elementary School and cut funding for computer lab aides.