And no matter how unpopular the options might be, the message from the district was clear: Big changes will need to happen.

San Jose Unified School District spokeswoman Karen Fuqua reviewed aloud the results from the parent budget input surveys at the Nov. 12 meeting. The surveys were sent to parents in early October, asking for their input about what they felt could be discontinued, at least temporarily, from their local schools. Out of the 32,000 surveys that were sent to parents, a little more than 5,000 were returned to the district office along with 600 additional write-in comments, which were tallied by high school students for community-service hours.

Some parents told the district administrators that the questions weren't easy to answer because any combination of cuts could impede their children's education.

Using a scale of "most acceptable" to "no opinion," parents answered questions that included the possibility of closing three to four elementary schools, increasing class sizes, eliminating bus transportation and reducing instructional periods at middle schools from six to five.

According to San Jose Unified School District Associate Superintendent Jerry Matranga, approximately $450,000 would be saved per elementary school closure. And, he said, if summer-school class size was increased by three students per kindergarten through 12th-grade class, $156,000 could be saved. The district would also save $2.5 million by reducing class periods, $1.3 through the elimination of buses, $1.2 million by increasing class sizes in kindergarten through second grade and $1.2 million by instituting a medical benefit cap.

During the meeting, to the displeasure of some parents, it was also made clear that all elementary schools are on the block for possible closure, including magnet schools.

San Jose Unified School District Superintendent Linda Murray told the parents she wanted to maintain open levels of communication during the entire budgetary process to avoid the rumors she's heard in the community about fictitious cuts for the next year.

She told parents that when the dot-com bubble was popped, the demise of that once-sizable tax base caused 20 percent of the schools' general fund to vanish as well. And, she expects the economic downturn to last for at least a couple more years.

"This has happened to us, not because of us," Murray said.

The district has already cut $13 million from the general budget for the current school year. The results of these cuts included increased class sizes in third and ninth grade, elimination of librarian positions, reductions of assistant principal positions, increased class sizes at the secondary level and reductions in additional staff and programs.

The district also cut its own management by 15 percent and is considering further reductions in central management and local administrations, with cuts up to $900,000.

Even if all these proposed cuts were made for the upcoming year, the district would still have a deficit of $1.4 million.

Murray encourages any district parents with additional input to come to future community meetings and express their opinions about the upcoming school year.

"We are going to try and move the cuts away from the classroom," she says. "But we will have to do some things that are pretty serious."

For more information about the district's budget cuts, visit http://www.sjusd.k12.ca.us/index.html.