Vallejo's school board voted unanimously Wednesday to turn the debt- ridden district over to state control, becoming the seventh district in the state to take such a drastic action.

The decision came one week after the Vallejo City Unified School District ousted its superintendent, Gladys Phillips-Evans, and voted to save millions of dollars by closing Mare Island Elementary School and cutting elementary school music teachers and middle school counselors and librarians.

But the budget-slashing moves weren't enough to keep the school system for 20,000 students afloat on its own, board members said.

"This is terrible for the community,'' said Burky Worel, a former member of the board who was critical of the current board. "I don't think it needed to occur. It could have been avoided. They were too complacent."

The district is on track to fall $20 million short by the school year's end. Auditors have blamed the district's financial woes on years of miscalculating revenue and expenses and too much borrowing.

Vallejo's bailout request comes one year after Oakland's schools were given a record $100 million state bailout and as many other California districts, including West Contra Costa Unified, struggle to avoid cutting programs to the core.

The state Legislature must approve the takeover. With the Legislature's approval, the state will appoint an administrator, and the school board's decision-making powers will be reduced to an advisory role.

Board members expect the transition to state control to be complete by July 1.

Board President Rozzana Verder-Aliga refused to comment on the ouster of the superintendent, calling it a personnel matter.

Phillips-Evans is not expected to return to work but will continue to earn her $147,000 annual salary, Verder-Aliga said this week. Deputy Superintendent Clifford Solari will serve as interim superintendent.

"We're cutting all these people now from the school, but we're letting someone who's not even working get paid,'' said Joe Malloch, a senior at Hogan High School.

Although many district employees were surprised by Phillips-Evans' sudden departure, they have long expected a state takeover of the district.

Jim Boulier, a third-grade teacher at Joseph Wardlaw Elementary School, said Phillips-Evans was "directly responsible for any incompetency" on the part of the district's financial officer.

Verder-Aliga said the board was left in the dark as to key meetings and critical decisions made by Phillips-Evans and county education officials. She said she would seek a grand jury investigation of the financial mess.

An audit of Vallejo's 2002-03 budget showed the district had not accurately calculated revenues and expenses and had borrowed too much to cover the shortfall. The district overstated its ending fund balance last year by $5 million, according to the audit by School Services of California.

The state has taken over six other districts for financial problems, beginning in 1991 with the bailout of the West Contra Costa district (then known as Richmond Unified), followed by Coachella Unified (Riverside County) in 1992, Compton Unified in 1993, Emery Unified of Emeryville in 2001, and West Fresno Elementary and Oakland Unified last year.