Public school divisions in the region face the prospect of state budget reductions this year, and that inevitably means cuts to their largest spending category: teacher salaries.

Officials with Southwest Virginia's two largest school systems -- Roanoke and Roanoke County -- are crunching numbers and preparing for the final state budget figures, expected by mid-March. But they are on a tight schedule: Budget adoption is scheduled for March 15 in the city and March 25 in the county.

In Roanoke City Public Schools, salaries and benefits today account for 70 percent of the $143 million current budget, and that is after 88 positions were trimmed last year. Comparatively Roanoke County Schools budgeted 82 percent of its $138 million budget for personnel. As the school boards draft plans for the next fiscal year, two distinct classes of teachers likely will feel the sting of budget shortfalls: those with fewer than three years of service and those over age 50.

"We have squeezed our nonpersonnel savings to the breaking point and beyond," said David Carson, chairman of the city school board. "With the massive cuts the state is imposing on us, we likely will have no choice but to cut additional personnel -- on top of the 88 eliminated last year."

Both school systems have offered early retirement incentives to employees over age 50 with a minimum number of years of service -- 17 in Roanoke and 10 in Roanoke County. If older, more experienced teachers on the high end of the salary scale retire, then the school boards will be able to keep a higher numbers of nontenured teachers -- those with fewer than three years of service.

"Twenty positions on average is worth a million [dollars] to us," Roanoke County School Board Chairman Mike Stovall said of the early retiree pool.

The county school board is offering to pay for up to five years of group health insurance or a one-time lump sum payment of $12,500. The city's offer is a one-time amount of 25 percent of the base salary, not to exceed $20,000.

Stovall said in coming weeks nontenured teachers may receive reduction in force notices, indicating their contracts will not be renewed.

"I know that causes discontent and heartache among employees," he said.

But any number of those teachers may be called back depending on the amount of state aid the division is issued for the next biennium, which starts July 1.

According to the salary data obtained through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, there are 98 nontenured teachers in the county. In Roanoke, there are about 175 teachers with less than three years of experience. The Virginia Education Association estimates more than 24,000 education jobs statewide may be lost based on the House of Delegates' budget and nearly 16,000 based on the Senate's version. The budgets will be reconciled as the General Assembly winds toward a scheduled March 13 adjournment.

The schools with the highest average salary for teachers are Woodrow Wilson Middle in Roanoke and Back Creek Elementary in Roanoke County, according to salary data.

The highest-paid teacher in the county earns a base pay of $60,239; the employee is a high school teacher with a doctorate and 29 years of service. The lowest-paid instructional employee is a part-time specialist for at-risk elementary school children who earns $15,436.

In the city, salaries and stipends for the 1,045 full-time teachers (with 200-day contracts) cost nearly $46 million. The highest-paid teacher earns $66,700 -- that person is a high school teacher with a doctorate and 21 years of teaching experience. The salary of the lowest-paid teacher is $36,602 -- a high school program coordinator without a college degree and one year of service. The average salary of full-time teachers in the city is $43,913. That figure includes a supplement for the level of college education.

The city and county are almost on par with each other when it comes to average years of service and pay: about 13 years and just under $44,000.

The city school board is projecting a deficit between $11 million and $15 million, and the county is anticipating a shortage in excess of $8 million. One proposed solution to closing the multimillion-dollar gaps is to reduce staffing to state Standards of Quality minimums, which are based on the number of students enrolled.

In Roanoke that would mean cutting about 146 full-time positions, including about 79 teachers. The projected savings are about $8.7 million.

"That might be OK for certain school systems that don't have the same characteristics as us," said Todd Putney, a member of the city school board.

Seven out of 10 Roanoke students are eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunches based on their family's income. Two out of every three students graduate from the city's high schools.

"Fewer teachers means fewer programs, larger classes and tremendous challenges," Carson said.

Moving to SOQ minimums in Roanoke County would eliminate about 52 full-time positions at elementary schools, 29 at middle schools and 54 at high schools. But the concept is not popular with Stovall, who campaigned last fall to protect the jobs of the county schools' employees.

"I am going to keep teacher ratio as close to 20-to-1 as I can," he said. "That is where instruction will suffer, if class sizes get out of hand."

Staff writer Matt Chittum contributed to this report.