CHRISTIANSBURG -- Montgomery County School Board members suggest cashing in on their business partnerships to find some manpower and money in the coming budget year.

Otherwise, grass at school buildings could grow higher because of deferred maintenance and parents' school supply lists even longer because schools can't afford them.

On Thursday night, the board unanimously approved a $90.86 million spending plan for 2010-11 that is down $5.5 million from the current year. The new budget, which the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors is expected to discuss at its meeting Monday night, slashes all teacher training funds, cuts school supply and equipment budgets in half and limits school field trips to a quarter of what's being spent this school year.

While parents are likely to recognize the effects of cutting funds for school supplies -- because they'll be required to buy more for their children -- board members said they worry parents won't fully understand the effects of eliminating teacher training budgets or staffing cuts.

The $45,000 cut to the training budget will affect "how our teachers are able to keep up with educational trends," said board member Penny Franklin. She and board member Phyllis Albritton suggested meeting with business and education partners to find ways to make up for those losses.

Those kinds of partnerships will do nothing to avoid a freeze in wages and potential staff cuts on the horizon.

The division must find a way to eliminate the equivalent of 49.6 employees, or $2.98 million in payroll, to balance its spending plan. Fewer teachers could mean larger class sizes. For example, the state allows the school system to increase its class size to 24, whereas the district has tried to keep its average to less than 20.

Originally, the division planned to cut the equivalent of 57 employees. Interim Superintendent Walt Shannon said a 0.3 percent decrease in health-insurance premiums, as opposed to an anticipated 5 percent increase, allowed the division to target the lower number.

Shannon has said the division wants to reduce staff through attrition, not layoffs. He did not discount the latter, though.

"A reduction in health insurance is good news, and if there's any good news to be had out of this budget than I guess that's it," said board Chairman Wendell Jones.

Some school employee praised the budget plan, saying they were pleased that the first targeted cuts were in supplies, rather than people.

"While it isn't fun, you can teach without many of the things in our classroom," said Erin Bull, president of the Montgomery County Education Association, which represents about half the teachers and staff across the division.

The job can't be done without teachers, she said.

Brownie Cauley, a science teacher at Blacksburg Middle School, said the board's actions regarding employees could have longer-lasting effects, even when teachers' paychecks don't grow.

"Those are the things that keep us working hard," he said. "Even though we may not see a financial reward, we know we're valued and appreciated.

"People will do a lot ... if they feel appreciated," he said.

Some details, such as exact amounts of state and federal revenue coming into the division in the next fiscal year, still will need to be worked out.

"This is the beginning," Shannon said. He said his staff also would work with schools to see whether they could find ways to reduce equipment, while keeping supplies, or vice versa, depending on individual schools' needs.

Weather earlier in the week forced the school board to delay its normal Tuesday night meeting to Thursday.

The board will finalize its budget in May.