Expect more multi-million-dollar budget cuts by the Lake Washington School District this year, but this time around, teacher layoffs loom large.

The Lake Washington School District (LWSD) avoided laying off teachers during last year’s budget crunch. But this year is a different story, according to Kathryn Reith, LWSD director of communications.

“We were really proud we didn’t have to lay off any teachers last year,” Reith said. “We’re just holding our breath if we can do that again. I don’t know if we can. We may be able to. There aren’t any easy cuts left. There’s still lots of question marks.”

Last year, LWSD was forced to cut $7.7 million from its budget, but in the end, there were no teacher layoffs. Hampered by dwindling state funding, LWSD is facing $7.4 million in cuts for the 2010-11 budget cycle if the current state budget, proposed by Gov. Chris Gregoire, is approved, Reith said.

LWSD plans to begin the public budget process in March, when residents can provide their opinion on the LWSD Web site and at upcoming community meetings, Reith said.

The projected budget revenue for 2009-10 is $217 million with $138 coming from the state. The state doled out $150 million to the district for the 2008-09 budget cycle, Reith said.

School districts around the state got a dose of good news earlier this month from King County Superior Court Judge John Erlick.

Issuing a long-awaited judgement in a suit filed in 2007, Erlick ruled that the state is not meeting its constitutional duty to fund basic education in Washington. Erlick ordered the legislature to “proceed with real and measureable progress” in determining the costs of providing students with the “basic knowledge and skills needed to compete in today’s economy and meaningfully participate in the state’s democracy” and to establish a stable, dependable funding source to pay those costs.

Reith said the decision is good long-term news for state education funding, but it doesn’t solve the more immediate budget problem.

“In the short-term, there will be some hurtin’,” Reith said. “We’re scrambling for any penny we can get.”

A big part of the LWSD budget is voter-approved levies and bonds, Reith said. LWSD got some mixed results from the special Feb. 9 election, where three funding measures were on the ballot, with the two levies getting approval and the $234 million bond being shot down by voters.

As of Wednesday night, Prop. 1, an operations levy to replace existing educational programs and operations, was passing easily with 61.61 percent voting in favor. Prop. 2, a levy to replace existing capital projects that are scheduled to expire, is also passing easily with 59.08 percent of voters casting ballots in favor of the measure.

The bad news is that Prop. 3, a general obligation bond measure to raise $234 million, needs a super-majority approval of 60 percent to pass.

If passed, this measure would allow the LWSD to construct and/or modernize schools to address anticipated overcrowding and to facilitate a switch to four-year high schools.

But as of Wednesday night, that bond measure only had 55.63 approval, just short of the 60 percent needed.