The governor and the Legislature have emphasized to education leaders that budget cuts are to not harm the teachers or classrooms.

Educators point out that teacher salaries account for 85 percent of a district budget. Further, half the school year is over, so a 7.5 percent cut is really like a 15 percent cut, they say. "This late in the year is really difficult," Ronnenkamp said.

Many school districts are looking at enrollment growth and rising health insurance costs on top of everything, education leaders say.

"I thought they were going to hold education harmless," said Sharon Okumura, principal of Canyon View Elementary School in Jordan District.

In earlier budget cuts last summer, public education was "held harmless" in that 3 percent cut was "backfilled" with money left over from the previous year. However, state budget forecasts have gotten worse since then.

Roberta Smith, lunch clerk at Canyon View Elementary, said she is kind of scared about losing her job. "But I figure there is always going to be lunch," she said.