If the proposed cuts are fully approved by the legislature as outlined by Davis, the district could anticipate a whopping loss of $704,632 for the 2003-04 school year.

"This is the first take on what we believe the governor is proposing," Assistant Superintendent of Business Linda Latasa said cautiously during the presentation. "This needs to go through the legislature before these numbers are real."

Although the district is emphasizing that the figures are not yet in effect, school staff and board members were very concerned for the livelihood of the district.

"It's horrendous," said board member and former teacher Dorothy Rouse. "This is really painful. I've been in education for 50 years and this is the worst I've ever seen it."

If Davis' planned cuts are approved, the district could face a 7.46 percent cut across all Proposition 98 categorical programs and a $434,125 cutback in revenue limits. One of the largest portions cut would be from unrestricted state-funded programs, which includes class size reduction programs (10.82 percent cut) and summer school programs (3.66 percent cut).

Block grant monies would also be cut, with reductions made in school safety spending, school improvement programs, instructional materials, school library materials and the Gifted And Talented Education program.

As feared, basic aid is also under examination. "They are attacking basic aid with a vengeance," Latasa said. "That will hurt us a lot if we fall into the basic aid category this year."

LGUSD was considered a basic aid school district in 2001-02 but was not for 2002-03, and it is highly likely the district will qualify for basic aid in the 2003-04 school year. Basic aid provides the district $120 per average daily attendance (ADA) per year, average daily attendance being the total number of days of student attendance divided by the total number of days in the regular school year. A student attending every day would equal one ADA.

Superintendent Mary Ann Park stated that the district is doing as much as it can to prepare for the potential cuts, including scrutinizing purchase orders and looking creatively at budgeting.

Creative strategies might include teaming up with the Los Gatos­Saratoga Community Education and Recreation department to help with summer school classes and transferring funds between accounts to free up money.

"We are going to leverage what we can, but we still have a major revenue limit that will be cut," Park said. "I don't know how it will work, but we are certainly looking differently at how to make cuts this year." A saving grace of the district, Park pointed out, is that 21 percent of its funding comes from local sources such as the parcel tax and home and school club, which will continue to provide revenue.

Board member Rouse avidly agrees with the value in finding alternate ways to provide current programs, such as summer school.

"We will cut wherever we can, but we don't know what will happen," Rouse said. "It's a crime to cut away at summer school and special education, because those are the kids who are really in need of help."

Talk circulated briefly about the district's "nest egg," which was established more than 20 years ago when the state mandated a 3 percent reserve. However, the district set aside an additional 3 percent on top of that money, providing a sum in the ballpark of $400,000. Park said the district is extremely hesitant to dip into the fund, however, as it is money that could not be replaced once used.

Fisher Middle School Principal Ken Lawrence Emanuel said district schools are now starting to look at potential budget reductions because they have only recently finished midyear cuts.

Due to these cuts, Fisher has had to close many of its newly formed electives. Lawrence Emanuel said the school is trying to teach new subjects such as technology, creative writing and theater arts, but is now "looking at how to utilize facilities and run our programs. The time of experimenting with curriculum and letting kids explore different interests is gone. We have to focus on sure bets—classes that we know we can fill."

Lawrence Emanuel does believe that schools "need to bear our fair share in this deficit," as they take up the largest portion of the deficit. However, he added, "education is already pretty lean. These cuts are huge, unbelievable. You just have to ask, 'How did this happen? Where were the watchdogs?' "