There is a lot of red ink that the Bluewater District School Board needs to take out in their 2009 budget.
Trustees spent the better part of Tuesday nights public meeting explaining to parents why cuts need to be made.
Only a half a dozen parents showed up at the public meeting that took place at the boards headquarters in Chesley.
Superintendent of Business Brenda Booth revealed that the board ended up with a surplus of 822 thousand dollars in 2008.
But she is projecting that the board will have to cut at least 4 million dollars in order to balance the 2009 budget.
Booth adds student enrolment will go down by 800 for the 2009-2010 school year.
Board Vice-Chair Jan Johnstone says that is 1 million dollars lost right off the bat.
She says only when the declining enrolment bottoms out that we will see cuts be levelled off.
But she says that may not happen for another 5 to 6 years.
Chair Jennifer Yenssen says the deficit was also because of pay equity.
She says before amalgamation, the Bruce and Grey boards settled the pay equity issue separately but when the boards merged they had to do it all over again.
As for reducing the massive deficit, Johnstone suggests that the board should not roll out any new programs and just coast for the rest of the year.
Port Elgin resident Kevin Larsen was one of the parents who did show up at the public meeting.
He says the explanation of the line items in the budget was the biggest benefit for him.
He understands now where the money is going and the difficulties the Board faces in trying to meet the needs of the students.
Larsen says he realizes how tough it is for the Board to make these cuts but feels they are looking at things the wrong way.
He says the decisions are being made based on what cuts will hurt the least rather than trying to put out the best education system in Ontario.
The Board will continue budget discussions at their next Business Committee meeting.