An across-the-board spending cut of about 3 percent, or more than $150 million, will start in September. Although schools have been spared some of the cuts to government spending in the past, they are expected to be included in these cuts.

The authority to cut was something that was placed in House Bill 2, which instructs Gov. Bill Richardson to come up with a balanced budget, said State Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort, R- Sandia Park.

That means the Legislature won't have to reconvene to allow the governor to maintain a balanced budget, according to Beffort, who serves on the Senate Finance Committee.

Beffort said she was worried about this very situation two years ago, when economic projections began to show a gloomy forecast for the state. Basically, the state had put off dealing with the situation for quite a while by the time the Legislature attempted to balance the budget earlier this year, she said. And, at the time, legislators and the governor didn't do enough to stop the bleeding, Beffort said.

She said the expectation that the economy would continue its downward trend led the Legislature to include provisions for the governor to make cuts, should they be needed.

"It's unprecedented. … We've never had any language like this in a budget," she said. "Maybe the governor never thought it would happen. … He wasn't going to come with us on what we thought was necessary."

The announcement, which hasn't yet translated into a specific dollar amount, comes at an unfortunate time for schools, however.

The districts and individual schools have already signed contracts with teachers, which means there are fewer options.

Primarily, districts are restricted in the ways they can cut salaries or reduce positions at this point.

Jay Mortensen, superintendent for Mountainair Public Schools, called the situation "disheartening."

His district, which has 23 full-time teachers, doesn't have too many places to turn to trim its budget, he said. Having absorbed budget reductions of one sort or another, he said, he's already let some teaching positions lapse and will have a few more students in each classroom this year.

That will bring the average class size up to around 22 students, he said, so that news isn't so terrible. He expects he'll still be short about $165,000, should a 3 percent cut be made.

"We're going to ask, 'What's the low-hanging fruit?' " he said. "Turn the lights off at the end of the day?"

One option would be to save on operational costs by shutting the buildings down after school hours, he said.

"Teachers, as you know, work very, very hard," he said. "People come in on weekends, turn on lights, copiers, heat."

Although Mountainair's school hasn't come to a decision, East Mountain High School has already taken action to deal with the projected cuts and preserve the school's bottom line.

On Monday the school's Governing Council decided to increase the charter school's enrollment from the current 334 to about 380 students. That, coupled with an increase in class sizes from an average of 19 students to one teacher to an average of 25 to one for electives and 20 to one for core classes. The school also will impose a lower limit to class sizes of 15 or more students, with the exception of classes for students with special needs.

"We can't have tiny classes," said EMHS Principal Doug Wine. "It's just not financially feasible anymore."

Wine believes the coming cut will be followed by another 3 percent cut to school budgets, he said. The second will come after the legislative session in early 2011, he said.

At this point, the Moriarty-Edgewood School District seems to have a few more options to deal with budget cuts.

Superintendent Karen Couch said her district could be looking at a $689,000 reduction, but it has managed to keep its cash reserve in place, despite the state budget cuts over the last few years.

"We could be in worse shape," Couch said. "We wanted to make all the hard decisions upfront."

The district saved a little money by not replacing an administrative staff member who resigned, Couch said. The district will also consider budget concerns when deciding whether to hire replacements for staff members or teachers who resign, she said.