Last week, Superintendent Deborah Gist announced plans to eliminate or defund 172 administrative jobs across the district. In their place, the district would create 66 new positions, and end up with a net savings of $3.7 million.

There isn’t much choice in the issue. The state is shorting Tulsa schools $4 million this year, and the district anticipates cuts of up to $20 million more next year.

A budget haircut of $3.7 million is, it turns out, just a good start on what the district will have to do if the state further slashes education spending.

There has been, no doubt, some padding in the Tulsa school administrative ranks, but not that much. The cuts will mean real losses.

In a memo to district employees earlier this year, Gist suggested that a $2.4 million 15 percent cut in administrative staffing was the high end of what had been considered, and she pointed out that such a large reduction in secondary services would impact the district’s abilities to perform its primary mission.

“Keep in mind that the central office provides many essential services such as payroll and benefits, student enrollment, bond projects and facilities management, IT infrastructure and support, maintenance management, and professional development,” Gist wrote. “These reductions would result in fewer, or perhaps in some cases slower, essential services provided to our schools, students, teachers and families.”

But every dollar cut from school administrative costs is a dollar that won’t have to be cut directly from classrooms.

Gist is making hard choices, but it’s apparent harder choices will be coming if state lawmakers don’t do their jobs and adequately fund public schools.