The auditorium of Western Hills was crowded last week as students and parents in Cranston readied themselves for a battle over cuts proposed in the school budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

But as the School Committee settled into their seats, it proved to be the calm before the storm. The public was advised to save comments for a public work session that was scheduled for this Wednesday evening after press deadline.

It was instead Superintendent Peter Nero who took the spotlight.

“We can no longer run multi-million dollar deficits, even when we were doing so with the best interest of the students in mind,” he said. “I have to figure out how we move forward because we will probably ruin the district if we don’t get our arms around this.”

The picture being painted was a bleak one. Using the schools’ independent audit as a blueprint, Nero presented a $125 million budget that aims to rein the district back to the Basic Education Program. Altogether, the proposal recommends a program reduction equivalent to $1.14 million. That includes eliminating the EPIC enrichment program; taking out strings, chorus and band from the elementary schools and cutting both freshmen sports and the girls’ hockey co-op team.

Those programs are considered in excess of the BEP.

“We must separate the must-haves from the nice-to-haves. You can’t have everything,” Nero said.

The district’s activities budget is slated to cut by 25 percent as well, which comes on the heels of last year’s 25 percent reduction. Schools would be charged with deciding exactly where those cuts could be drawn from.

“We’re going bare bones,” added committee member Frank Lombardi, who urged the audience to keep an open mind during the budget process.

That, he said, is crucial when considering the staggering deficit the schools face. By the time the schools lost the Caruolo Act lawsuit last month that claimed the city did not fund the district adequately, they had racked up an $8.4 million debt to the city between 2007 and 2009. Add to that an additional $1 million deficit from this year, and the schools are deep in the red.

“We’re looking at a $9 million problem,” said School Committee Chairman Michael Traficante.

Still, that deficit is down from the last meeting. Cranston joined the statewide transportation plan for out-of-district students under the assumption it would save them $600,000, based on figures they said came from the state. They later found out that the program does not save Cranston anything and instead would cost approximately $390,000.

Through ongoing discussions, Nero has been able to whittle that difference down and eliminate the $390,000 costs. That still leaves a $600,000 savings written into the budget that will not likely be realized.

“You could fairly say that our budget problem is the busing problem,” said committee member Steve Stycos.

In addressing the deficit, Traficante pointed out that the schools have been consistently level-funded despite tax increases on the municipal side.

“The kids of Cranston have received zero dollars of those tax increases,” he said.

This time around, Nero is banking on the city upping their offer. The current proposal represents an increase of just over $3.8 million, which is the maximum 4.5 percent allowed by the state. He quickly noted that comparably sized communities are being provided with more support than Cranston.

“Warwick has the same number of kids more or less, and they spend $45 million more on education each year than we do,” Nero said. “If they want to give me even a tenth of that, it would solve my problems.”

Although Nero did not want to discuss worst-case scenarios just yet, he said level funding would not translate into any school closings this year.

As prompted by the audit, however, he said a committee would be formed in the coming months to look at the impacts of closing an older building to make room for a state-of-the-art facility. The audit and the superintendent are also recommending an examination of the benefits of privatizing transportation and food services.

Nero sent letters out to the unions representing the district in hopes they could come to the table and offer additional concessions.

In terms of immediate savings, though, the school administration is engaged in discussions with the Rhode Island Interscholastic League to merge several sports teams between Cranston East and West, with the exception of football, basketball, wrestling, baseball and boys’ hockey.

So far, the proposal has not been a popular one.

“They’re worried about a super team and they look at it as a slippery slope, but it’s a different ballgame now,” Nero said in reference to the RIIL. “They have to come to some kind of reasonable compromise.”

Consolidating teams will help reduce the athletic budget, which Nero would like to see cut by $130,000, or 25 percent, by 2014. Music too will see a drop by that same year, bringing the two programs down to the BEP. In the music category, if the budget is approved that will mean $135,000 cut each year, amounting to a total of $675,000.

Cutting music programs has been a perennial area of debate for school leadership and program coordinators. But while Nero says that music is important, he feels he has run out of options.

“I don’t believe we have a choice. In my 32 years I have never seen anything that comes close to the situation we are experiencing,” he said.

Funding music or sports through parents and booster clubs is unlikely, and the superintendent said any entity wishing to do so must pay the costs for the season up front.

Otherwise, he runs the risk of those groups falling through, as he believes the state has done. During his time in Cranston, Nero said he has seen a litany of unfunded mandates and educational fads that have cost the district time and again.

“I’ve seen a lot come and go,” he said.

SALT surveys, for example, were pushed onto schools in 1999 when Nero was the principal at Western Hills. By 2004, the system was obsolete and the thousands poured into preparing schools and teachers for it went down the drain as NECAP emerged as the new standard.

“That’s money gone. That’s why we’re constantly behind the eight ball,” Nero said.

Making a plea to the School Committee and the audience, Nero said that his proposal is the only way to keep afloat.

“I never want to appear in court ever again, but if that is the case, I want to be able to report that we have taken every step possible,” he said. “We will still be providing an excellent education, even with these cuts.”