By Hoyeon Lee, Woodbridge High School, Grade 11
Due to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit last year against the Public
Education system of California, art programs at Woodbridge are undergoing
budget cuts that affects much of the student population.
“Students in marching band, for example, are only going to home games on buses instead of
going to away games because of the cost of transportation,” principal Jason Viloria said.
Transportation is not the only thing that is affected.
“(Color guard’s) Disneyland trip every year has been canceled because of the lack in budget,”
English teacher and color guard Coach Christy Haley said. “My students are very
disappointed because it used to be there favorite trip of the year.”
The Irvine Unified School District defines a fee as “a condition for registering for
school or classes or as a condition for participation in a class or an
extracurricular activity, regardless of whether the class or activity is
elective or compulsory”. In other words, clubs, sports, fine art classes and
any other extracurricular activities are not allowed to charge fees to
students.
Administration, however, finds it difficult to ask for small donations to offset some of those
costs.
“Currently, the Irvine Unified School District has allotted $ 3.5 million to cover some of the
budget deficit,” assistant principal Belinda Averill said. “Unfortunately, that
money is being split among all schools in the IUSD. We can’t just keep asking
for donations because eventually students and parents are going to realize there
is a problem, because there is.”
Furthermore, athletic and music boosters are lagging in participation and funding to
compensate for the cost of extracurricular activities.
“PTA (Parent Teacher Association) membership has dropped from 200 last year to 100 this year
for some reason. We need the help we can get but it seems everyone is
frustrated because of the recent lawsuit,” Viloria said. “All we are asking for
is a helping hand.”
