Faced with a $75-million deficit, Toronto public school board trustees were in the position Wednesday of deciding whether to accept or reject a plan that could see a significant number of school and pool closures to balance the budget.

Board staff presented the four-year budget plan to trustees for approval at a special meeting, which recommended closing up to 64 schools and 77 of 80 swimming pools.

Funding for parenting centres, summer camp for special needs students, school breakfast and lunch programs and caretaking staff were also on the chopping block, as well as 500 to 700 educational assistant positions.

Trustees deferred voting on the proposed budget strategy until they meet with Ontario Education Minister Sandra Pupatello on Monday and after the province announces, within the next couple of weeks, the exact funding grants that school boards will receive for this year.

But Ward 8 Trustee Howard Goodman (Eglinton-Lawrence) said trustees will have to make the decision sooner than later whether or not to accept the budget plan with the proposed staff and program cuts.

The only other option, he added, is for the board to hand over the "keys" to the province to balance the budget, as happened under the previous Conservative government. Under provincial law, the board must submit a balanced budget.

"It's either cuts or keys. It's going to be a brutal decision," said Goodman, who asked his fellow trustees to confer with their constituents before voting on the issue. "There's no win."

Other trustees were more critical of the provincial funding formula that they said is flawed and doesn't adequately cover the real costs of education.

"There's no adequate funding for teachers' salaries. There's no adequate funding for the utility bills or the maintenance of pools," said Ward 11 Trustee Josh Matlow (St. Paul's).

Director of education Gerry Connelly said that even if the proposed budget plan is implemented with all the cuts, school closures and reinvestments, the board would still face a shortfall of $30 million in each year of the four-year strategy.

"The plan is the province will close that gap by 2009 if not sooner," Connelly said.

But not everyone was convinced the ministry of education would bail the school board out again with enough funding.

Ward 2 Trustee John Campbell (Etobicoke Centre) suggested the board ask other ministries such as child and youth services to contribute financially, for example, to help keep parenting centres open.

"And I'm not afraid of private partnerships," Campbell added. "I think we have to be open minded and look at whatever possible resources we can get from outside agencies."

The Campaign for Public Education group, consisting of members from local school- and community-based organizations, also attended the board meeting, warning further cuts to the school system that is already thin on resources would be devastating to the education of every child.

"It's difficult to believe they're contemplating any cuts," said Chris Glover, a parent member for the advocacy group. "We should be restoring services instead." <!-- /* You may give each page an identifying name, server, and channel on the next lines. */ var s_pageName="" var s_server="" var s_channel="" var s_pageType="" var s_prop1="" var s_prop2="" var s_prop3="" var s_prop4="" var s_prop5="" /********* INSERT THE DOMAIN AND PATH TO YOUR CODE BELOW ************/ /********** DO NOT ALTER ANYTHING ELSE BELOW THIS LINE! *************/ var s_code=' '// --> <!-- var s_wd=window,s_tm=new Date;if(s_code!=' '){s_code=s_dc( 'nmtoronto');if(s_code)document.write(s_code)}else document.write('<im'+'g src="http://nmtoronto.112.2O7.net/b/ss/nmtoronto/1/G.4--FB/s'+s_tm.getTime()+'?[AQB]' +'&j=1.0&[AQE]" height="1" width="1" border="0" alt="" />') //--> <!-- if(navigator.appVersion.indexOf('MSIE')>=0)document.write(unescape('%3C')+'\!-'+'-') //-->