In what aptly could be described as whiplash, the Huntington Beach City School District board meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 28, ended quite differently from the way it started – with trustees voting 3-2 to close an elementary school this summer, oust most transfer students and lay off 29 teachers.

Out-of-district transfer students entering fifth and eighth grades next school year will be allowed to finish up their elementary or middle-school careers in HBCSD.

Losing a yet-to-be-determined school next fall will lead to new school boundaries, with some children assigned to schools they don’t currently attend.

Initially, board members were set to vote on a “fiscal stability plan” allowing for baby steps toward the inevitable shuttering of a school. That road map would have given the district another year to consider which school to cut loose.

It also would have frozen the acceptance of new out-of-district transfer students, while letting current transfers remain for at least the time being.

With that option, the district would have shaved by attrition about 175 of 750 transfers from its rolls next school year – a total that accounts for eighth-graders graduating this spring and kindergartners who normally would have started in the fall.

The district faces a projected $6.8 million deficit, partly due to declining enrollment as families with young children settle inland where housing is more affordable.

Enrollment this year is around 6,600. Come August, attendance will be down by about 500 transfers. On top of that, HBCSD projects an annual loss of about 200 new students living within its boundaries.

For years, HBCSD welcomed transfer students, who brought with them money that could be used to improve education for all of its students. California provides funds to schools based on attendance numbers.

However, HBCSD is, by all indicators, soon to be designated a “community-funded” district – meaning that it will enjoy enough property tax income for financial independence from the state.

Before its overhaul, the fiscal plan called for slashing 17 teaching positions district-wide next school year, with more to come in following years. With a school closing in the more immediate future, that number grew by 12.

From the start of the meeting, trustees Bridget Kaub and Shari Kowalke expressed skepticism about the slower approach, which included reducing mental health support for students. They argued that the district first needs to serve its own residents before it trims programs in order to afford transfers.

But board president Ann Sullivan and trustee Paul Morrow questioned the fairness of kicking out longtime transfer students once wooed by the district to boost its flagging enrollment.

Several speakers chided the board for “indecisiveness” that, as one parent said, “has pitted schools against schools, parents against parents and inter-district transfers against those of us living in the boundaries.”

That anxiety was repeatedly on display Tuesday night.

Some parents presented the case for closing one school over another, eliciting grumbles from the audience. Some complained that the district’s property taxpayers should not have to subsidize transfer students. Some claimed that the district shows favoritism among schools.

And many just wanted definitive answers. A teacher warned that if the issue dragged on unresolved next school year, “It will crush morale.”

After listening to public comments for more than three hours, Kowalke proposed an amended plan entirely distinct from the one presented in the agenda. “Take off the Band-aid and let the healing begin,” she said.

Apologizing, board member Diana Marks tearfully voiced support for the revised plan.

“I see my nephew back there shaking his head,” she said. “He has inter-district (transfer) kids. But when I look at what inter-districts are costing us, I don’t see how we can stay fiscally sound. This breaks my heart.”

Only two districts in Orange County are self-sufficient: Laguna Beach and Newport-Mesa Unified. With home values and property taxes rising every year, affluent HBCSD is destined to join them.

The state’s “community-funded” designation comes with big advantages – giving districts more control over supplemental programs. If a district receives enough money from property taxes to cover its own expenses, it can keep surplus tax income rather than pool it with money shared by all California schools.

On a sliding scale, the state provides the vast majority of school districts at least some funding. Schools with high numbers of English-learners and low-income students receive the most. That formula makes HBCSD one of the 10 lowest-funded districts in California.

With out-of-district transfer students gone, HBCSD property taxes will be divvied among a smaller student population – accelerating its qualification for independence.

Most of the transfers come from the Fountain Valley, Newport-Mesa and Huntington Beach-based Ocean View school districts.

“We are not asking them to return to bad schools,” Kowalke said, “but to excellent schools that are ready to take them back.”