LANSING-Clare Public Schools may lose $300,000 in funding for the current school year as the state deals with a $377.4 million deficit its School Aid Fund (SAF).

The estimated deficit was announced following a conference at the Capitol.

"The options are straightforward: Cut programs and funding, raise revenues to fill the deficit or some combination of both," said Kathryn Summers-Coty of the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency.

The revenue conference determined that the fiscal year 2007 SAF revenues are expected to drop by $322 million from the $11.1 billion estimated last May.

Michigan's fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.

The deficit could lead to a maximum $224 cut in per pupil funding that school districts receive.

Currently, the Clare school district was supposed to receive $210 per pupil more this year than the last.

Clare Superintendent Greg McMillan said, "We have not heard the final word on our funding. The cuts in our budget could range from $50 to $224 a student."

Karen Schulz of the Michigan Education Association (MEA) said, "Every person should be concerned about school funding. Education is the best economic development the state can invest in."

The MEA is the state's largest union of teachers and other school employees.

Schulz said there will be a large lobbying effort against cuts in the school aid budget.

" It is not about protecting teacher's salaries, it's about quality education. We need the funding to follow through on our promise of quality education so our children can grow up to get good jobs and be productive members of society," Schulz said.

The Senate Fiscal Agency said many factors led to the projected deficit.

One factor was the lack of money left over from previous years.

Another factor was lower-than-expected tax revenues.

The state school aid fund is a primary source of money for public school district operation and school employee pensions. It comes from sales taxes, lottery profits and other taxes.

The Senate Fiscal Agency report showed a modest increase in revenue from sales and use taxes, and income taxes. However, those increases were offset by a drop in revenue from tobacco and real estate transfer taxes.

If the cuts in funding take place, they will be uniform across the state and determined by Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the Legislature.

Granholm is expected to submit her recommendations for the next state budget to the Legislature by Feb. 10.

McMillan said, "It is very likely we will not know the bottom line for the Clare district until after the governor's State of the State Address."

The speech is scheduled for Feb. 6.