It's getting ugly out there.

Not the recent deluge of rainstorms across the region, though they seem symbolically appropriate for a county and state where the refrain has switched from, "It's the economy, stupid" to, "It's the stupid economy."

Like a gloomy February rain cloud, nationwide economic woes and California's own fiscal crisis have cast a dire economic pall over numerous areas of local life.

Downtown businesses are struggling to endure a lingering slump; the county is up against the proverbial wall in regard to a proposed casino near unincorporated Buena Vista; local domestic violence programs in Amador and Calaveras counties may lose 8 percent of their funding because of state and federal cuts; county programs like public health are looking for services to drop; and the school district is facing its most dire year since, well, possibly ever.

"This is absolutely the worst," acknowledged county school district Superintendent Mike Carey of a state budget fallout that is mandating 10-percent cuts to every state program across the board.

For the Amador County Unified School District, that means district officials have to find some way to trim between $2 million to $3.6 million from the budget next year, or about $800 per student. In a state where per-pupil spending ranks near the bottom, that process, which has included a series of tense budget advisory committee meetings, has proven nearly impossible.

On Wednesday, the school board will hear what the committee has come up with, with just the barest of essentials covered. Forget trimming the fat. School officials are worried they won't even have a skeleton left.

In his 22 years as a schools superintendent, Carey said "nothing even remotely compared to this."

Under the list of "viable" reductions, the advisory committee is considering shortening summer school, cutting monetary contributions to high school libraries, and getting rid of freshman sports and elementary school music programs entirely. Besides those cuts, the district is considering eliminating five full-time positions for the 2008-09 school year. Even with all the slashing, the cuts amount to $1.95 million.

The committee has also come up with a list of options that are considered less than viable, "kind of a, 'what if?' list," Carey said.

That includes no class size reductions for kindergarten through third grade, implementing a four-day school week and appealing to corporate sponsors for funding. That list is "a little loosey goosey," Carey admitted, but it reveals just how desperate school officials have become.

Adding to the unprecedented predicament is the suspension of Proposition 98 money for the 2008-09 school year. Even in bad years, the district typically had that to count on, Carey said. But with the governor using it to prop up other state programs, schools are experiencing something of a double hit.

"That's money we won't ever see again if past experience is any indication," he said of next year's allocation.

The budget advisory committee is made up of 28 teachers, administrators and school site council members, parents who are familiar with the budget process, Carey explained. That has given budget sessions a good background for talks, "but none of us are well prepared for dealing with what's in front of us," Carey said in a Feb. 22 letter to school officials.

The timeframe, too, is condensed. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released California's stripped-down budget last month, with schools needing to have their budgets completed by mid-March at the latest.

"This would be the meeting where everything would need to be decided," Carey said of Wednesday's school board meeting.

In May, the governor will release a revised version of the budget. In past years, the May-revise as it's called typically casts a rosier outlook than the previous incarnation of the budget. That won't be the case this time.

Because of certain budgeting restrictions - schools cannot reduce the level of services to identified special education students, for example - deeper cuts will have to be made elsewhere.

"Arts are pretty much gone," Carey revealed.

Parents of high school music students are already clamoring to save the program, sending out mass e-mails asking concerned parents to contact school board trustees and show up Wednesday.

But the dim reality may prove insurmountable. Personnel makes up the largest portion of the budget, meaning staffing cuts are inevitable. Carey is in his last year as superintendent. In recent years, parents and students have gotten used to a certain level of service. "Don't expect the same programs anymore," he said.

The district is also considering a $25 million to $35 million school bond for the June ballot for facilities improvements.