Two Franklin County school districts are preparing for cuts a month after voters rejected operating levies in those districts.

Last night, Hilliard Superintendent Dale McVey revealed a $4.5 million budget-reduction plan that includes slashing 93 positions, including 34 teaching jobs, for the 2008-09 school year.

Meanwhile, the Canal Winchester school board met behind closed doors and sifted through options for shaving an additional $1.8 million for the next school year.

In Hilliard, McVey said the cuts will affect every area of the district and will mean larger class sizes and fewer educational offerings.

"It runs deep and goes across the whole district," said board member David Lundregan. "It's very disturbing."

Voters rejected a 9.5-mill operating levy in March that would have raised $22.8 million annually. Officials said the levy would have lasted three years, but they had hoped to stretch the money for another year.

"With the failure of the March levy, it was important to make these reductions to stay solvent in the 2008-09 school year," McVey said.

The cuts will affect five administrative positions, 34 teaching positions and 50 support positions, 47 of which are two-hour lunchtime and recess aides for kindergarten to sixth grade.

McVey said most of those aides also are bus drivers who pick up the extra hours between driving shifts.

Some programs such as an outdoor-education program for sixth-graders have been cut, and the district's central-office and school building budgets will be scaled back.

Officials noted that the district has shaved nearly $11 million from the budget in the past five years.

McVey said officials tried to preserve the programs in kindergarten through third grade. Despite the reductions, district officials have been able to maintain class sizes at the lower elementary grades, but fourth- and fifth-grade classes could reach 30 students to a teacher.

District officials already have met with some of the staff members who would be affected, McVey said.

The district said it will go back to voters in November, but even if a tax issue is approved then, McVey said the eliminated positions will not be reinstated.

"These cuts are permanent," he said. The board will vote on the cuts at its April 28 meeting.

Canal Winchester board members will reveal what they've decided at Monday's regular meeting.

Officials there are looking at cuts to be made because voters rejected an 8.9-mill operating levy last month.

Besides what was discussed privately in last night's meeting, the spending reductions of $639,000 for 2007-08 will continue for the new school year. They included streamlining bus routes and cutting back on school supplies.

Teachers and nonteaching employees could be laid off in Canal Winchester. High-school busing could be eliminated, and extracurricular fees will be doubled from $70 to $140.

"There are no good answers right now," Superintendent Kim Miller-Smith said.

Dispatch reporter Jim Woods contributed to this story.

cboss@dispatch.com

Because of the cuts, class sizes for fourth and fifth grades likely will increase, Hilliard's superintendent said.