The Roanoke School Board approved a preliminary $140.5 million budget for the coming fiscal year Tuesday evening, an almost $10 million drop in spending over the current year.

For now, the plan is merely an estimate. Many details surrounding revenues the school system could receive from the Obama administration's $787 billion stimulus package remain uncertain. But the school board is required to submit a budget estimate to the city council by the middle of March, which means the board had to approve a plan stuffed with question marks.

That uncertainty led one board member, Courtney Penn, to vote against the budget, although he said he did not oppose the plan put forward by the administration.

"If I'm going to vote for the budget, I'm going to need to understand the whole thing from the beginning to the end," he said.

The plan passed 6-1.

Other board members also expressed their displeasure about the uncertainty surrounding the budget.

"We understand how discomfitting it is to everybody," said school board Chairman David Carson.

The main question that is still unresolved is how much money Roanoke schools will get from the fiscal stabilization fund that is part of the federal stimulus package.

Lawmakers this weekend hammered out a state budget that estimates Roanoke's share at roughly $4.4 million, but local officials have been reluctant to rely on that estimate because they do not know whether the extra funding will come with strings attached.

The U.S. Department of Education is drafting rules that will determine how the money can be spent -- rules that probably will not be released until late this week or early next week. The government could put restrictions on spending, which means that school districts may be barred from spending the stimulus money where they need it most. Officials already have said that part of the money has to be set aside for construction.

Roanoke school officials could therefore find themselves in the strange position of having to slash spending while at the same time receiving millions of dollars from Washington.

"I have to budget that which I know I have," said Curt Baker, Roanoke's deputy superintendent for operations. "Until the rules are defined, you can't count on it."

Roanoke County's share of the stabilization fund is almost $5 million. There, too, school officials have been hesitant to count on the money.

"Right now we're just not hearing enough," said Penny Hodge, assistant superintendent of finance for the Roanoke County school system, which is slated to adopt its budget March 26.

School systems also are slated to receive millions more from the federal stimulus plan for programs for low-income students and students with disabilities. By law, that money can not be diverted to help school systems balance their budgets.

Roanoke's budget woes are mostly because of declines in aid from the state and the city as well as sharply dropping sales tax revenues. Meanwhile, expenses such as utilities, benefits and insurance have increased. Already, the school system has voted to close two schools, a move that will save roughly $3 million.

But the school system's troubles are also partly attributable to a spending spree in recent years.

Annual payments for the construction of two new high schools -- a $111 million project -- are going up about $1 million next year. The school system also has launched ambitious and costly initiatives recently, such as middle school honors programs, beefed-up arts education, elementary school Spanish and a new alternative school in the Forest Park building.

To ease the strains on spending, school officials are considering privatizing the transportation system, a controversial proposal that Baker estimates will save about $250,000. The budget also calls for eliminating 14 percent of the school system's work force -- roughly 260 positions -- all but 30 of them of them teaching positions. So far, 71 employees have indicated their intention to retire, leaving about 189 positions that still need to be eliminated, either through attrition or layoffs.

School officials already have warned that mass layoffs may be on the way.

If federal authorities don't place too many restrictions on the stimulus money, however, local officials could use the windfall to preserve positions.

"Our focus will be improving that which happens in the classroom," Baker said.

But until the U.S. Department of Education clarifies how the money is to be spent, it will be impossible to know with any confidence how many jobs are at risk.

"We've got people very nervous right now," board member Jason Bingham said. "Let's be as transparent as we can."