New Mexico faces a deficit estimated at $433 million, and some legislators expect the number to balloon to $550 million, or perhaps even higher. Gov. Bill Richardson has set a date for the session to deal with the budget shortfall, Oct. 17, and education is sure to be an item for debate.

Richardson has rejected education cuts while some legislators, including Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Sandia Park, have said education — which makes up more than 40 percent of the state's $5.5 billion budget — should not be off-limits.

Two legislators — Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith, D-Deming — went a step further and sent out a letter to school districts throughout the state. They suggested that the situation may call for a 10 percent reduction in the entire state government, including education.

Smith has since stated that he doesn't think the cuts would go as deep as 10 percent, but the letter has gotten the attention of a number of school administrators in the East Mountains and Estancia Valley.

Carolyn Allen-Renteria, superintendent of Estancia Municipal School District, said she didn't know where her district would make cuts if they were mandated.

"Until we know an accurate figure for budget cuts, it is difficult to determine where we would cut," she said.

To prepare for what may be coming, the district is looking at several different strategies, including using cash reserves and reducing expenditures, that would not directly affect instruction, Allen-Renteria said.

"If we are mandated to trim budgets," she said, "I will reconvene our budget committee."

Some in Estancia are planning to speak out against state budget cuts to education.

"School board members and Estancia staff will be contacting our legislators to let them know how critical it would be for our students and school districts if cuts were mandated," Allen-Renteria said.

Moriarty-Edgewood School District Superintendent Karen Couch pointed out that, as indicated in the letter, about 85 percent of the district's budget is dedicated to salaries and benefits.

She pointed out that if the cuts to education required them to lay off employees in the middle of the school year, she'd want to be sure it wouldn't cause a legal problem for the district.

"School districts and the legislature need to make sure that this is researched fully," she said.

She was critical of a move made in the regular legislative session earlier this year in which the Legislature cut the education budget and used about $160 million in federal stimulus funding to "backfill" the missing money.

East Mountain High School Principal Doug Wine said he is concerned that a 10 percent cut would put his school in a terrible position.

"I think we would probably manage to weather 3 percent," he said, "but 10 percent would be very difficult."

With grants and other funding sources coming into the school the budget is closer to $3 million, according to Development Director Lori Webster. But out of the portion of the school's budget from the state, about $2.3 million, or 92 percent, goes to the staff and for teachers' salaries, Wine said.

"That's why 10 percent would crush us," Wine said.

He said the school has chosen to put its money into staffing because they wanted smaller class sizes, so a cut of that nature would force them to change their approach.

Mountainair Superintendent Jay Mortensen said that in his small district a 10 percent cut would greatly impact the budget.

If it happens, Mortensen said he would have to print the budget and go line item by line item, trimming anywhere the district can.

"I don't think for this year it would impact personnel," Mortensen said. "I think we'd be OK on that end." For a variety of reasons, personnel expenditures take up about 80 percent of the district's budget, which is lower than many other area districts, he said.

One of the first things to get cut, Mortensen said, would probably be a proposed computer lab in the high school.

The school board meeting will be held Tuesday night, where Mortensen said he will discuss the state's actions with the school board and the public.