FACING SHORTFALL, MISSION COLLEGE WILL NOT FILL VACANT STAFF POSITIONS.

Byline: Mary Beth Alexander and Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writers

Officials at Los Angeles Mission College, scrambling to backfill a projected $1.1 million deficit in their sparse $8.7 million budget, say they'll hire no teachers or staff, even though they're already down several positions.

Already, the Sylmar campus has left unfilled two administrative positions, six full-time faculty positions and eight classified positions.

The Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees is seeing similar problems across seven of its nine colleges, with a collective deficit of about $3.1 million.

"We didn't know that we had launched any of our campuses at the beginning of the year in a deficit position, that they were doomed to fiscal failure," said LACCD Board Member Kenneth Washington.

The deficit also has struck Mission's sister campuses in the San Fernando Valley.

Officials at Valley College in Van Nuys estimate that the campus will spend about $140,000 above their $21.6 million budget, the report states.

Officials at Pierce College in Woodland Hills have projected a year-end $800,000 shortfall in their $21.5 million academic-year budget.

Earlier this month, Pierce officials had projected a $1.4 million year-end deficit, and ordered a hiring and spending freeze.

District officials ordered the reports after learning that the districtwide ending balance would be about $4 million less than projected at the beginning of the year. The district is expected to end the year with a balance of about $5 million, less than two percent of its $282 million budget.