California's public schools will be impacted by the cuts, and in the North Bay, school districts are bracing for the worst, while lobbying to prevent the cuts.

As kids at their lunch at Brookside Elementary School in San Anselmo, Marin County Superintendent of Schools Mary Jane Burke addressed a boisterous crowd, warning the district simply can't do more, with less. "And so we'll be looking at hundreds of teachers, we'll be looking at all specialized programs, arts, music, languages," said Burke.

Parent donations are already contributing to the salaries of art, music and physical education teachers. "For them to already take that away from us and to make our children's lives less rich within the school, and less well-rounded, it's really a slap in the face," claimed parent Karen Martin. "We bought homes in this community because the schools were good. And if they're going to pull the rug out from under us, than our property value's going to go down."

Martin claims the community suffers from a vicious cycle. As property values plummet, so do property taxes, which leaves the state less to spend on education.

KCBS' Margie Shafer reports