Moline school district officials have announced three budget-reduction options for next school year to help address a projected $3.8 million Education Fund deficit.

In response to the school board's direction to reduce the budget by about $2 million, the administration plans to recommend Option B at the April 8 board meeting. It calls for $2,047,488 in cuts, according to a district news release.

Option A calls for a savings of $1.2 million, which reflects the reduction of 24 full-time equivalent teaching positions approved at the March board meeting.

Option B includes savings from Option A along with $400,000 in special education tuition payments, $225,000 cut by delaying textbook adoptions, $120,000 from additional retirements, $50,000 cut in technology expenditures, $43,257 less in administrative assistant compensation due to attrition and $9,231 by eliminating the district calendar.

Under Option B, the district would utilize $1,752,512 from its existing education fund balance.

A third option -- Option C -- would reduce the budget by $3,590,614. It includes cuts from Options A and B as well as increased fees, larger elementary class sizes, cutting extracurricular activities, cutting the early childhood program and closing one elementary school.

The release stated the administration is not recommending Option C at this time, but it may be needed depending on state decisions on pensions and general state aid allocations.

Illinois is behind in this year's payments to Moline by about $1.2 million, according to the release. That figure includes roughly $338,000 in appropriations for the early childhood program at Jefferson School.

The anticipated $2 million reduction for the 2013-14 school year comes on top of $9.2 million inreductions over the past three years -- $3.5 million in 2010-11, $2.5 million in 2011-12 and $3.2 million in 2012-13, according to the release.

The release states Illinois is 49th out of 50 states in school funding covered by state versus local revenue.

The Moline district receives 47.7 percent of its revenue from local property taxes, according to the release. However, the city's equalized assessed valuation has declined 1.7 percent, translating into $782,186 less projected revenue for the 2013-14 school budget.