Some schools could close.

Some popular after-school programs could be eliminated.

Courses could be tossed.

Those are options being weighed by a panel of 20 school district volunteers whose job it is to find millions of dollars in possible budget cuts to balance the 2003-2004 budget.

“Funding is not there to do everything for everybody,” said Trish Bransky, a committee member and principal at Southwest Junior High School.

School board President Scott Morgan, another member of the committee, said, “The unthinkable is now thinkable.”

The committee — teachers, staff and administrators — was asked by the school board to find ways to curb expenses. In the next few months, the committee will consider budget whacks that could affect friends, colleagues — even themselves.

Other cuts already under consideration by the panel:

Lawrence High school choral music teacher Cathy Crispino, left, instructs students preparing for the play Once

• Library staffing
• High school business courses
• Coaching stipends
• Administrative support
• Elementary school counselors

But the cuts will have to go much deeper than that, said Kathy Johnson, the district’s finance director and coordinator of committee meetings.

The panel will operate under the assumption state funding to public school districts will decline, Johnson said. Another given is that basic district expenses, including health insurance and utilities, could climb as much as 20 percent.

Johnson said the district’s budget-cutting debate could be as controversial as it was for the 2002-2003 budget, in which the board ended up adopting $3.2 million in budget cuts and fee increases.

She said it was unclear what the budget-cutting target would be for the coming year. But increasing student fees to avoid cuts, a move that helped balance the budget last year, has been taken off the table by Supt. Randy Weseman.

¢See other stories and video reports about the budget, school closings and the bond issue

The 5 percent raise given teachers and staff this year probably won’t be repeated, said board member Leni Salkind.

“We’re talking about cutting millions out of the budget,” she said.

Board member Mary Loveland said it was possible the district could end up closing Centennial and East Heights schools earlier than anticipated to save operating costs. On Dec. 2, the board voted 6-1 to shut down Riverside School in May. No formal vote has been taken on consolidating Centennial and East Heights.

“It is one of the ways we can generate big (budget) numbers,” Loveland said.

Linda Robinson, another board member, said she would fight to protect out-of-class programs in sports or the fine arts that help round out the education of the district’s 10,000 students.

“I personally hate to see us cut some of the extracurricular activities, like sports and music,” Robinson said.

The committee’s recommendations to the board will be based on input from principals and administrators who will be expected to solicit ideas from staff under their jurisdiction.

The board will not formally approve the 2003-2004 budget until next summer.