As legislators try to figure out how to slash some $600 million from the state budget, schools are waiting to see if the proposed cuts will require a band aid or major surgery with lots of stitches.

The question remains, how much, how soon, and how does the school district handle it?

Reductions in education funding from 2.8 percent to nearly 7 percent are being discussed.

"We're bracing ourselves for at least a 4 percent cut," Santa Fe Public Schools' Superintendent Bobbie Gutierrez said in an interview Wednesday. "But all the state's school districts are already operating on a lean budget."

Gutierrez doesn't want to talk about closures — "I don't feel good that 'closing schools' comes up every time this state has a budget issue" — but she is considering a range of responses including consolidating small schools, cutting administrative staff, reshuffling duties, increasing classroom size and re-negotiating salaries with teachers.

"But I'm working to be protective of teachers in the classroom," she stressed.

That makes Lisa Randall, a teacher at Kearney Elementary School, breathe a little easier. But Randall is still concerned about the impact of any cuts to the educational system.

"I'm bracing for too many kids in the classroom, too few materials, overworked administrators, and an already very-tired group of colleagues who have been dealt another blow," she said Wednesday.

Randall doesn't buy into critics' arguments that the system is overfunded, or that the district could have been better prepared for this financial hurricane.

"Beating up on the public schools is a community sport," she said. "And often people who make these kinds of decisions have never been in a classroom."

She said teachers at Kearney have been asked to start looking for ways to save money: Utilities and supplies are obvious options.

Mary Massey, an instructional coach at Capital High (a former reporter, she taught journalism there for 13 years), said she's less certain about what all the budget-cut talk might mean in the long run.

"Everything's on the table," she said. "We don't know what's happening. We don't know what could get cut."

The cuts could have a serious impact on things that aren't so obvious.

"We're moving forward with initiatives that are addressing graduation rates and student achievement," Massey said. "But that has the potential to be stalled — despite directives from the state to pursue them — if there's no money to move forward."

As it is, the district will have to figure in any reductions into a fiscal year that's already nearly half-a-year old, giving the cuts an "almost double" financial impact, School Board President Angélica Ruiz said.

According to Gutierrez, it will be an incredible challenge to start slashing programs, moving student or canceling athletics (another option) in midsemester. She said she will do what she has to do after the final verdict comes in.

Randall isn't optimistic. "I feel like we're on the path of deconstruction, not reconstruction," she said. "And achievement scores are not going to go up, I'll tell you that."

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