Extreme disappointment.

That seems to be the collective feeling among school officials after Gov. Rick Snyder rolled out his proposed two-year budget plan Thursday.

“I’m extremely disappointed,” said Dana Daniels, school board president for Niles Community Schools.

Snyder’s recommendations include an additional $300 cut to state aid per student on top of previous cuts, bringing total reductions alone to $470. That number doesn’t take into account the increase in retirement and insurance costs districts will have to cover for teachers.

The governor also has recommended a blend of the general fund and School Aid Fund. The School Aid Fund has traditionally provided funds for K-12 education.

According to the proposed budget, “the governor’s budget recommends the creation of a new State Education Funding Act that utilizes School Aid Fund revenue as well as available general fund dollars to support the state’s education system at all levels from early childhood to higher education.”

Utilizing the School Aid Fund for community colleges or universities is what Daniels said disappoints him even more than the additional cuts.

“Right now, what it means is we have to figure out what we can do to try and balance the budget,” Daniels said. “Actually, the more important thing is how can we manage to get through the school year and still have some fund equity left?”

Daniels’ sentiments were echoed by Brandywine Community Schools Superintendent John Jarpe.

“Now they are allocating the School Aid Fund … to community colleges and universities,” Jarpe said. “So that’s the part that concerns us. We had been hoping against hope that wouldn’t happen. But there it is.”

Jarpe said he understands the state’s challenge of overcoming serious financial problems but the proposed cuts and reforms to education spending will no doubt create an ominous challenge to school districts.

“It’s going to be very difficult,” Jarpe said. “Everybody’s got to look at how we can operate everything within our means.”

For the Niles Community Schools district, the pressure is on as negotiations continue with teachers.

Quoting his own superintendent, Richard Weigel, Daniels said, “At this point in time we cannot cut our way out of this. We won’t have any fund equity left after about two years here, based on current projections.”

Even school districts who seemed safe from any significant worry are deeply concerned.

“If the proposal were to come to fruition or if it were to stand as recommended by the governor, I’m prepared to tell my board tonight that would factor in all our salaries and fixed expenses and that would formulate my budget and would mean that Edwardsburg Public Schools would present a deficit budget of $1.7 million,” Superintendent Sherman Ostrander said.

“We have saved in Edwardsburg,” he said. “And we remain one of the more fiscally healthy districts in this part of the state … Even our district could not sustain that for a period of two years and not reevaluate our entire structural delivery.”