The mood at tonight's meeting of the Portsmouth School Finance subcommittee was professional and grimly determined as the team met with part-time Finance Director Ralph Malafont to review preliminary numbers for next year. With the results of the Caruolo action and the 5.25% Paiva Weed cap weighing heavily on the proceedings, the group considered their options.

"You have a structural deficit and some hard decisions," said Malafont. Looking at the overall budget, he said, "Maybe 7-8% is what you have discretion over, and it's all important to kids."

Add to this the uncertainty about state aid (depend on the Governor's big promises, or the backchannel advice from the lege to stick with level funding) and persistent problems in actually getting the money promised for group homes (over $500K) and you've got a set of constraints that would send a Wharton finance major scurrying for their HP-12C.

"Your biggest decision will be, 'What is essential to the students of Portsmouth,'" said Malafont. Items discussed tonight were cutting an entire language, AP classes, and aggressively inspecting athletics cost per student and participation numbers.

Superintendent Lusi encouraged the group to think outside the box. "We really are entering a new realm in trying to fund public education in this state, and if we don't come up with creative ideas, we're going to have a very different system in negative ways."

This prompted a brainstorm on revenue options -- things like user fees, fundraising, leveraging the new gym for bigger events, and reaching out to the Portsmouth Education Foundation.

The committee will be meeting over the next couple of weeks, and bringing the budget to the Town Council on April 9.