That’s a worst-case scenario. There are several other alternatives on the table in Oklahoma City, including some that would actually increase state appropriations to schools.

But, with the state facing an $878 million budget hole and given the past behavior of the state, planning for the worst-case scenario makes sense.

Last year, the state reduced funding to TPS by $6.7 million, a 9 percent cut, and state revenue failures have cut TPS funding four more times this year, according to the district.

Oklahoma’s per-pupil funding for state aid to schools has been cut more since 2008 than in any other state, translating into a $27 million state funding cut to TPS.

The state hasn’t lived up to its education funding responsibilities in years, and TPS is making plans for what to do if it doesn’t do so again this year.

As Superintendent Deborah Gist said in a Sunday Tulsa World op/ed column, the alternatives are difficult and heinous.

If you want to see how difficult and heinous, take an online TPS survey on budget cutting options: www.tulsaschools.org/survey. The survey is scheduled to stay open to the public through Thursday.

As the survey makes clear, there are no painless cuts. It can’t be done just by eliminating central administrators and athletics. To save the kind of money needed to absorb a $12 million hit, the choices will necessarily include nuclear options, things such as closing schools, shortening the school year, increasing class sizes or going to a four-day school week.

None of the options available to TPS — including administrative reductions — result in a better education climate for students to learn.

We urge all TPS patrons — parents, students, teachers, and people with no personal stake in schools but an interest in a brighter future for the community — to take the poll, recognize the unacceptable choices facing the school district and make it clear to state lawmakers that another year of inadequate public school funding is intolerable.