OXNARD : Adult Education Classes Will Not Be Dropped

Oxnard’s adult education program will not be shut down this summer and probably will continue unscathed in the fall, the superintendent of the Oxnard Union High School District said Wednesday.

“It will be business as usual when the school year begins July 1,” Supt. Bill Studt said. “I hope this relieves the anxiety among the students.”

Three weeks ago, the district’s threat to drop the program touched off angry protests by hundreds of the 29,000 students taking adult education.

Anticipating a shortfall of about $650,000, the district did not include the program in its 1993-94 budget because a new state law slashed the amount of money a district can charge adult schools for overhead such as maintenance and utilities.

Earlier this week, district representatives met in Sacramento with other education officials and state authorities to investigate ways to amend the law. Oxnard officials returned home optimistic, Studt said.

“We believe there will be some compromises and some solutions,” he said. “I think it will end up with something we can live with.”

If the Legislature doesn’t make the changes Studt and others deem necessary, the adult education program could face reductions, but in areas that don’t have a direct impact on students, he said.

The district had been criticized by both students and state education officials for threatening to cancel the program. But Studt said the uproar helped galvanize other school districts.

“We got our lumps for blazing the trail, but districts up and down the state are finally waking up to the impact of this legislation,” Studt said. “We were at the forefront of that.”

Studt’s announcement was good news to Josie Chavez, a nursing student who had fought to save the program. But she won’t feel relieved until she sees adult education in the final budget.

“Until then,” she said, “I’m still on the edge.”