It could become a vicious cycle.

Declining enrollment is forcing the Lawrence school district to cut its budget for the upcoming year. And school officials fear the programs that are cut will cause even more families to leave the district.

“Then we have a bigger enrollment decline,” board member Cindy Yulich said. “We’re just piling on.”

The school board on Monday began reviewing a list of 65 cuts suggested by administrators, amounting to about $2 million. The reductions reflect $669,000 in decreased state aid due to declining enrollment as well as increases in insurance premiums and transportation costs.

The cuts likely are more than will be required, but funding levels for next year probably won’t be decided by the Legislature until May.

The district’s budget committee will prioritize the cuts at its March 16 meeting and present recommendations to the school board March 29.

The possible cuts include sixth-grade band and orchestra, high school golf and gymnastics programs, 26 high school assistant coaching positions, nursing and custodial positions, and uniforms for maintenance workers.

At Monday’s meeting, administrators representing elementary schools, secondary schools, special education and central administration presented their prioritized list of budget cuts.

They often gave reasons for why the areas should not be cut. For instance, Tammy Becker, principal at Hillcrest School, said she didn’t want the district to cut sixth-grade band and orchestra.

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“We know this is a controversial budget cut,” Becker said. “It’s not one that we would propose if we didn’t have to.”

Joe Snyder, principal at Free State High School, warned that varsity sports programs could be less competitive if some subvarsity teams were eliminated. Cutbacks in other programs, such as cheerleading and marching band, also would have an effect on schools, he said.

“I think we all feel beat down by some of these things,” Snyder said. “How do you maintain the quality? And I don’t think you do.”

Board member Leni Salkind said she’d prefer to find one major program to eliminate rather than making many smaller cuts.

“It seems better to do without something entirely instead of tearing apart lots of things,” she said. “The challenge is finding that one thing that is the mother lode.”

At the same time, administrators have presented a wish list of $2.3 million in budget requests the school board will consider.

“The discussions the board is going to have are about values and what value you attach to these things,” Supt. Randy Weseman said. “Nobody in this room wants to do anything but what we all know is best. A lack of funding from the Legislature is attacking our system, so we’re looking at the system.”