BIG LAKE — Sedro-Woolley parents and teachers didn’t like what they heard Monday night about budget cuts for the school district.

More than 120 people showed at the Sedro-Woolley School Board meeting Monday night at Big Lake Elementary School. Most seats were full, and more than a dozen people stood at the back and overflowed into the hallway.

Most were at the meeting to encourage the board to reconsider some of the nearly $2 million in cuts that board members say they are forced to make due to state budget cuts and enrollment drops.

But the word from district officials was direct — the cupboard is bare.

Superintendent Mark Venn said the district’s projected deficit was about $2.4 million. The balance of cuts was made up with more than $400,000 from the district’s reserve fund.

One of the cuts removes extended library time at the elementary school level. Gay Hoerler, a seventh-grade English teacher, said some teachers are unprepared to teach an influx of students who do not know how to use a library or who do not have basic technology skills.

“I think we are handing our students and our children a deficit they may never recover from,” Hoerler said.

Those who spoke to the School Board stood in place and tried to be heard over the traffic outside. Anton Ehinger, a physical education teacher at Sedro-Woolley High School, said many teachers are unwilling to fill in the cuts with personal time.

“I really hope the School Board is not hoping these cuts are going to be filled by volunteerism by the teachers in this district,” Ehinger said. “I think the general teacher population is tired of uncompensated work as well.”

School Board member Dave Carroll said the cuts were necessary because of dropping enrollment and reduced state funds.

“This has been a horrible situation for all of us,” Carroll said. “I think we’ve all lost sleep about what we’re going to do. It’s a bad bunch of bad circumstances all coming together at the same time.”

District officials across the state are required to notify staff by Friday if they plan to cut teacher positions. Last week, Anacortes School District laid off 19 teaching positions and reduced administrator positions by 1.8. The Burlington-Edison School Board voted in mid-April to cut up to 15 positions.

Sedro-Woolley district officials had prepared for up to $5.4 million in cuts as a worst-case scenario.

Contributing to the budget woes is a projected enrollment loss of about 150 students for the 2009-2010 school year, bringing overall enrollment to fewer than 4,000 students, the lowest since the 1995-96 school year, Venn said in March.

The enrollment picture hasn’t changed much since then.

As Venn listed the cuts in the Monday night meeting, the mood in the room grew somber. Staff members at the meeting crossed their arms, sighed or whispered amongst themselves.

The plan reduces principal positions from full time to half time at Big Lake, Clear Lake, Lyman and Samish elementary schools. Administrative cuts amount to about $207,000.

Of the 13.5 cut teaching positions, 10.7 positions were due to attrition, such as retirement, resignation or non-renewal of year-to-year contracts.

The School Board also voted to reduce the high school activities and athletics budget by $71,000. Cuts include eliminating assistant coaching positions from baseball and fastpitch softball. The drill team coaches position will also be cut. High school students playing sports will also pay a $40 fee per sport instead of $20 per year.

Venn said the district could receive more funding. Money from the economic stimulus plan that the district could receive is not factored into the current district budget, he said.

Kate Martin can be reached at 360-416-2145 or at .