Local school officials say they are trying to find ways to save money after the state told them last week that funding for the 2010-2011 school year could be reduced.

State Education Commissioner Susan Gendron told superintendents during a telephone conference call on April 14 that the state’s revenue could drop anywhere from $200 million to $500 million.

That means the state would be forced to use the stimulus money it recently received sooner than first thought, said Scarborough Superintendent David Doyle.

The Department of Education is getting $135 million from the $787 billion stimulus package Congress passed in February.

In February, the state restored the $27 million cut from General Purpose Aid to Education it made late last year and it planned to divide $54 million to keep state subsidies at current levels in the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 fiscal years.

“That might not happen now,” Doyle said. “They might need to use all of the $54 million sooner than they previously thought.”

Schools won’t know definitively how much money, if any, would be available for 2011 until early May, said David Connerty-Marin, spokesman for the Maine Department of Education.

The state’s Revenue Forecasting Committee is scheduled to meet later this month or in early May and could lower its revenue projections by up to $500 million, Connerty-Marin said.

“They are talking about some very large numbers,” Connerty-Marin said. “If the revenue projections are really bad, then the commissioner is saying her first goal is going to be to protect 2009-2010. She’s not going to say we’ll leave that money in there for 2011. Instead, she would take it from 2011 and put it into the 2009-2010 budget to protect ourselves.”

Gendron’s phone call with superintendents was not to scare them, but to encourage them to begin thinking of ways to save money in case the worst happens, Connerty-Marin said.

That still doesn’t lessen the worry for local schools, Doyle said.

“We are definitely worrying about it now,” Doyle said. “While this year’s budget seems to be set, moving into next year we need to start making decisions on how to save money right away.”

Doyle said he might impose a spending freeze at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year to “prepare for a loss that we weren’t expecting.”

He would not say if employee layoffs would be part of that cost-savings effort.

“It’s still early, but we will definitely need to make some tough decisions,” Doyle said.

In South Portland, Superintendent Suzanne Godin said her staff is taking the news seriously, but it is difficult to plan for uncertain financial futures.

“It’s a challenge,” Godin said. “At this point, it’s trying to be strategic in your thinking about the ‘what if’ and I think the state is trying to be as proactive as it can be, but we’re all concerned about setting up a situation where we’re in worse shape next year than we are now.”

Since last October, it has been a roller-coaster ride for schools trying to establish concrete budgets, Doyle said.

After the state initially cut $27 million from school subsidies, Cape Elizabeth, South Portland and Scarborough each enacted spending freezes for items other than salaries and fringe benefits. Scarborough and South Portland also placed a moratorium on school field trips.

In February, the state, through the stimulus package, reimbursed that money, but school departments had to wait up to a month to learn about how they could spend the money and if they could roll it over into next year’s budget, which they were told they could.

Scarborough got back its $781,000 it lost, Cape received its $441,000 and South Portland recouped its $830,000.

“That helped a lot,” Doyle said, “but it’s difficult now because we’re told two things. First, we’re told to spend the money because it’s stimulus that is supposed to boost the economy. Then we’re told to hold off on the spending and try to save as much as we can.”

School budgets will go to voters in Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough in referendums on May 12 and voters in South Portland June 9. The budgets are waiting on final approvals from town and city councils before going to voters.

Scarborough’s proposed budget is $35.5 million, Cape Elizabeth is proposing a budget of $20.2 million and South Portland’s proposed budget is $40.8 million.

Cape Elizabeth Superintendent Alan Hawkins was in meetings in Augusta last week and could not be reached for comment.