CASTLE ROCK — The Douglas County school board Tuesday night agreed it must make some painful budget cuts that will impact the one place they wanted to protect: classrooms.

In trying to make up a budget shortfall of more than $40 million for the 2010-11 school year, interim Superintendent Steve Herzog has recommended freezing salaries and hiring, increasing class sizes, and instituting mandatory furlough days.

After meeting late into Tuesday night, the board gave the cuts tentative approval. A final vote will come in June, once the state has decided how much it will cut K-12 funding.

“There are no right answers,” said board member Cliff Stahl. “There is nothing good about what we are voting on.”

More than 100 teachers, parents, students and others packed the board meeting, many anxiously awaiting to see how the cuts would affect them.

Douglas County is just one of many Colorado school districts struggling to balance their budgets.

The school district, once thriving and flush with cash, is not immune to the slumping economy. The $40 million in cuts proposed for the 2010-11 school year is about 8.4 percent of the district’s current general-fund budget of $477 million.

A total of $15.5 million in cuts is aimed directly at schools. Class sizes would increase on average by a handful of students per class, but the specifics would be up to the individual schools to decide how to best spend their money.

That did not sit well with parents who attended Tuesday’s meeting, although they understand the predicament the district faces.

“I don’t like larger class sizes, but obviously there has to be cuts,” said Liz Carrasco, the parent of two children who attend Douglas County schools. “I don’t know what else they can do.”

Employees would be required to take three furlough days during the school year, creating a savings of $3.8 million. Suspending performance pay for all employees for a year would mean an extra $4.2 million.

In addition, the district’s central office would take a $7.8 million hit, and students would be charged a $1 daily fee for riding the bus.

There would be a hiring freeze, but the district is not proposing any layoffs. About 200 positions would be lost through retirement and attrition for a district that has 3,400 teachers, according to the teachers union.

“We know the realities of the district,” said Brenda Smith, president of the teachers union. “We are cutting money when there is no money to cut.”

Looking ahead, things only appear to get worse for the state’s third-largest school district. This school year and the next two years will see a budget deficit of more than $70 million.

Property valuations are down, new-home construction has stalled and the state faces cuts in the billions in the upcoming years.

The school board is considering asking voters to approve a property-tax hike or pass a bond package and heard a report from a consultant Tuesday about those possible scenarios.

But that would be tricky given the current economic climate.

Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com