The Santa Barbara school board Tuesday night chopped $3 million from its $120 million budget, meaning students this fall will return to schools with larger class sizes, fewer counselors and teachers, and more fees for pupils and parents.

Big-dollar items included eliminating five teachers from San Marcos High School (saving $440,000), bumping up class size in grades K-3 ($393,000), increasing class size for ninth-grade English ($119,000), and reducing the hours of two junior high assistant principals ($77,000).

The move also means high school students will be charged $25 per semester to park their cars on campus, and that people will be charged for parking at major sporting events.

The cuts happened largely as a result of the deep recession, which has taken a disproportionate toll on California. Deputy Superintendent Eric Smith said the cuts may need to go deeper if Californians do not pass five initiatives on the May 19 special election ballot meant to generate revenue.

The board Tuesday night avoided carving into some of the most controversial programs, such as Gifted & Talented Education, freshmen athletics and athletic trainers.

The board also apparently managed to keep in tact San Marcos High’s unique “block schedule”, in which classes last 90 minutes instead of the traditional 55. The school for years has had more teachers per capita than the other two high schools, and bringing staffing there in line with the others would require laying off eight teachers.

Some teachers feared the district office’s proposal to bring San Marcos to parity on this measure would come at the expense of the block schedule, although Superintendent Brian Sarvis said parity and the block schedule are completely separate issues.

In any event, the board Tuesday night tentatively opted for a compromise, cutting just five teachers, and the move seemed to placate the San Marcos community.  (The board and the teachers union are negotiating a formal agreement, and so Tuesday night’s decision was made for budgeting purposes only, and is subject to change.)

Also taking a hit were high school counselors. The explanation for exactly how many counselors were cut was convoluted, but in the end the move saved the district nearly $100,000.

As for class-size increases, the bump for grades K-3 was relatively modest: the odd-sounding average of 21.45 students per teacher from the current 18. The class-size boost for ninth grade was more substantial: to an average of 20 students, from 25.

The board also decided to save money by requiring Associated Student Body organizations at each high school to pay a quarter of their bookkeepers’ salary. This means students who raise money for events such as prom and homecoming must set aside some money for the independent bookkeepers they are required to have by law. This is expected to save the district about $48,000.

In an indication of just how politically combustible some of the proposed cuts were, when the board — at the beginning of the meeting — voted to remove a GATE item from the cut list, hordes of relieved parents left the meeting. The proposal was to quit assessing second-graders for GATE eligibility.

Many parents also showed up to voice their support of the block schedule at San Marcos High.

“I’m concerned, because every year this issue comes up … right around this time of year,” said parent Judi Koper. “It becomes kind of a poison pill as the rumor mill goes around.”

Sarvis insisted the recommended reduction had nothing to do with the block schedule, and expressed irritation that the initial proposal to cut eight teachers from San Marcos was being interpreted by some as a proposal to end the block schedule.

“I think the foolishness needs to stop right now,” he said. “This is not about the block schedule. This is about parity in staff.”

About $1 million of the cuts came from items that are noncontroversial. These include continuing to lease school property on Ortega Street to Antioch University, eliminating certain consultants, disconnecting unused telephone lines and stepping up recycling efforts.

— Noozhawk staff writer Rob Kuznia can be reached at rkuznia@noozhawk.com.