In anticipation of statewide budget cuts to education, the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) continues to grapple with a projected $89 million to $100 million shortfall next school year. The bleak forecast is forcing the district’s parents and administrators to keep scrambling for ways to soften the blow that deep cuts could have on jobs and classrooms. The latest school budget workshop Feb. 9 left board of education members with tough decisions ahead, including such options as an of 8 percent pay reduction for teachers, personnel layoffs and cuts to programs held dear by many students who spoke publicly to trustees Tuesday. At the behest of the board, a “priority-based budgeting” committee made up of district staff and several subcommittee members spent the last month canvassing individual communities to assess educational priorities of parents, teachers and SDUSD employees. As a result, committee members suggested keeping current class-size ratios, suspending the Off-Campus Integrated Learning Experience (OCILE) program through 2013 and reorganizing administrative functions within departments and programs. Though many full-time equivalent jobs remain vacant, “some positions will be left out,” said Phil Stover, SDUSD interim chief special projects officer. Stover presented much of the committee’s findings to the board Tuesday. The committee also suggests consolidating 24 school district departments and transferring an estimated $1.5 million to school sites — still coming up about $40 million short of closing the budget, according to the presentation by committee members. At least one SDUSD Board of Education member came to a grim conclusion. “If the purpose of this [budgeting] process was to say, ‘We’re going to fund our priorities and then see where we’re at’ … I think the obvious conclusion is that we’re not able to fund our priorities,” said SDUSD Board of Education President Richard Barrera. The board agreed to call a special meeting Saturday, Feb. 13, at 9 a.m. to hammer out details of budget cuts. But while the board works to close the budget, the Point Loma schools community has begun to take steps toward potential cost-saving measures on their own through a governance pilot project that would open the district’s books to community members and residents, said Point Loma Cluster Schools Foundation President Christy Scadden. “We’re not asking for extra money,” said Scadden. “We’re looking at the flexibility of the money as it comes into the schools. We’re still exploring and we don’t know what that will look like.” Working with the 10 local schools in the Point Loma Cluster Foundation, the group could examine ways to share resources, or even find funding to pay for special instructors, said SDUSD board member John de Beck, who represents beach-area schools. During tough economic times, “It’s a way to visualize what you could do with [fewer] resources,” de Beck sid, adding that “in times of low resources, sharing is not a bad idea.” It would ultimately help local communities put unrestricted district dollars to better use, said parent and Point Loma Cluster Foundation member Polly Traylor. “It would help us not only in terms of savings but also in terms of identifying specific resources that are needed in our individual clusters,” Traylor said. “It’s an exciting idea and proposition … I’m hopeful.” The SDUSD board of education approved the cluster’s self-governance model pilot project 4–1 during a January meeting, with board member Shelia Jackson casting a “no” vote. Jackson said she voted against it Jan. 26 because of lack of representation from school site administrators. “I didn’t want to be approving something that I wasn’t sure that the people at the school sites wanted, or didn’t want, because they weren’t here to give any input,” Jackson said. But even as residential communities and local schools begin to lay the foundations for future financial autonomy, the district’s budget woes remain. As board member Katherine Nakamura put it, “[We’re] between the devil and deep, blue sea.” SDUSD officials are required to submit a report in March to the San Diego County Office of Education to show fiscal solvency or face the consequences. “We’re between the situation of having to make untenable decisions about our budget and being taken over the by the state [of California],” Nakamura said Tuesday.