The state Department of Education, which is considering budget cuts that could be as high as $69 million, would have to cut more than $23 million directly from classrooms under that worst-case scenario, education officials said.

The state Board of Education on Thursday passed a $45.6 million budget reduction plan that falls short of the $69 million that Gov. Linda Lingle had requested a month ago.

If the department had to take a $69 million cut, education officials are warning that the money would come out of the school funding mechanism known as the "weighted student formula," which pays for teacher, staff, custodial and other school-level positions and programs.

The result would be a crushing blow to the public school system, they say.

"We're down to bare bones," said Donna Ikeda, chairwoman of the state Board of Education.

"If cuts go deeper, it would absolutely affect the classroom," Ikeda said.

However, Gov. Linda Lingle said yesterday she was not convinced that the DOE had cut as much as it could from state and district offices.

"I don't see that they're hurting the classroom, yet. I'm certain there's more money there," Lingle said.

She also warned that more cuts may be over the horizon.

"This is our reality. I have to follow what the Council on Revenues is predicting. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem," Lingle said.

Lingle had requested that all state agencies come up with 10 percent, 15 percent and 20 percent budget cut scenarios for their 2009-11 discretionary budget because the state's slowing economy has eroded tax revenue.

Education officials had stopped just short of the 15 percent mark, suggesting that cuts deeper than that would ultimately affect school-level positions and programs. Officials were attempting to keep most of the cuts within state and district offices.

Friday was the deadline for the DOE to submit its budget reduction plans to the state Department of Budget and Finance. Because the plan was short of both the 15 percent and 20 percent budget reduction levels, education officials say the balance would need to be made up by decreasing the per-pupil allocation to schools.

So what could that mean for schools?

If the governor decides it's necessary to cut 15 percent of the DOE budget — about $49 million — that would mean schools could lose about $22 per student, said Patricia Hamamoto, superintendent of schools.

And if the DOE needed to cut 20 percent — about $69 million — schools could suffer a loss of $222 per student.

Currently the weighted student formula allots about $4,150 per student, and then adds more money based on student demographics or needs.

"Very candidly, the only way we could make tier three, we'd have to cut into the weighted student formula," Hamamoto said.

"We've cut administration to the bone," she said.

Nearly all of the budget reduction plan cuts into about 240 district and state-level positions and dozens of programs, while largely preserving school-level programs and staff.

Catherine Payne, principal of Farrington High School, said even a cut of $22 per student would have an adverse affect on her campus.

With a projected enrollment of 2,631 students next year, a cut that big could mean some $58,000 less in school funding, which is roughly the cost of a teacher, Payne said.

"We all know it is going to be a difficult time for the next couple of years," Payne said.

"Trying to look at the good side of this, it is causing us to look carefully at how we are spending and how we can save," she said.

But even a budget cut that is limited to state and district offices will have an effect on school campuses, Payne said.

For instance, the BOE-approved plan includes a more than $1 million cut for literacy training for special education teachers. While the cut is to positions on the state level, Payne said the effect will be felt on the school level.

"Someone from the state special education office would come to the school to help teachers to teach reading effectively. It's an area that we struggle with," Payne said.

"The whole program is being wiped out. We have a lot of new teachers who need this training," she said.

At Thursday night's board meeting, member John Penebacker warned against cutting too deeply, too quickly. He spoke in favor of resisting Lingle's mandate for budget cuts.

"If we resist ... the public will know we were not the ones who caused this to happen," Penebacker said.

"If we don't want to cut deeper than we think we can go, the public will know it was not the board that did it," he said.

Board member Garrett Toguchi concurred.

"We were given 23 days to come up with these cuts. In my tenure on the board, this has been the largest cut we've had to take," he said.

But he said he was optimistic that not all of the budget cuts will come to fruition during the legislative process.

"The Legislature is going to ultimately determine what kind of cut we're going to get. So this is an opportunity for discussion on the legislative level," he said.