Santa Fe Public Schools administrators and Board of Education members are still waiting for concrete funding figures for next year, but the message that came out of Thursday night's budget meeting was clear:

Any choice they make will hurt, and none of their decisions will win popular approval.

The district has to cut about $7.3 million to cover a drop in State Equalization Guarantee funds, a reduction in federal stabilization money, and mandated but unfunded costs.

Thursday's meeting was the first in a new series of public sessions to consider various options for reducing spending.

The "hardest and most controversial" — as Superintendent Bobbie J. Gutierrez put it — would be the closing and consolidation of several small elementary schools.

The superintendent's budget advisory committee — made up of educators, parents, and community members — is recommending that Kaune, Alvord and Larragoite elementary schools be merged into a K-8 school at the former Alameda Middle School building during the next school year.

But that idea, like the other proposals discussed Thursday night, is only one option.

Other budget-cutting ideas floated at the meeting included reducing or consolidating school athletics, cutting or alternating (every other year) fine-arts programs, increasing the caseloads of special education therapists, and increasing the number of students in each classroom — from 24 to 27 students per class in grades 4 though 6, for instance.

The proposals advanced were pretty much a reprise of the ideas the budget advisory committee and board members talked about at a similar meeting March 5. There was little new information, but more public participation, with several parents voicing their opposition to both the closing of small schools and increasing classroom size.

Gutierrez noted that a more detailed discussion of the facilities plan — including closures and consolidations — would take place at the next meeting Saturday morning.

She also stressed that the district has to prepare for the August opening of the new Amy Biehl at Rancho Viejo Community School, which will cost about $1 million to operate in the first year.

Board member Angélica Ruiz said she's heard a number of complaints from parents who feel that other schools are being put on the chopping block in order to fund the new school. But, she said, "We are not closing schools so Amy Biehl can exist. We may have to close schools so Santa Fe Public Schools can exist."

As board members fired questions at Gutierrez and her committee, they agreed that all their choices were unpleasant ones.

Ruiz urged community members to not just oppose budgetary ideas, but come up with solutions to the district's money woes.

"We have to make $7.3 million in cuts," she said. "There's not going to be a vote I make that's going to be popular."

Both board president Richard Polese and board member Frank Montaño reiterated their support for increasing classroom size over other options. That, combined with allowing attrition to bring down the number of teachers in schools, could save the district several million dollars.

"If we keep those small schools open, we will definitely have to have larger classes," board vice president Mary Ellen Gonzales said before the meeting. She added that even if the final cut doesn't end up being as much as $7.3 million, "we're in the hot seat in terms of making tough decisions."

Polese agreed, but noted that the term "tough decisions" usually equates to "unpopular decisions." "It's not going to be fun and games for us the next couple of months," he said.

"This is tragic," board secretary Barbara Gudwin said. "Nobody here is happy about it."

Board members urged parents and community members to attend at least one of five upcoming budget meetings. The board is scheduled to finalize the budget by April 22, according to Polese. Gutierrez said her staff then has about two weeks to review the budget before presenting it to the state's Public Education Department in early May.

Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com.