The Pittsburgh Public Schools last night proposed eliminating 203 positions and making $33 million in other cuts to keep the district from going broke in 2009.

The district said significant spending reductions are needed amid the projected loss of another 3,600 students, or 10 percent of the current enrollment, over the next three school years.

The projected loss of 1,521 students in 2007-08, 937 in 2008-09 and 1,158 in 2009-10 would leave the district with 25,829 students. Enrollment this school year is 29,445, down 1,703 from 2005-06.

Next year's elimination of 131 teachers, 30 aides, 10 counselors, five librarians, one assistant principal and 26 clerical workers were far from the only cuts that Superintendent Mark Roosevelt and his staff proposed at a meeting of the school board's Business and Finance Committee.

Without tens of millions of dollars in additional savings, the district will exhaust its reserve fund and face a $7.1 million deficit by the end of 2009, according to a report by Christopher Berdnik, executive director of finance.

It was the starkest forecast yet for a district that's long experienced financial problems and so far has tried in halting steps to turn its finances around. The district already has eliminated about 300 positions in the past two years, many by retirements, said Peter Camarda, executive director of budget and management services, and Lisa Fischetti, chief of staff.

Reversing the crisis will be "unbelievably difficult," Mr. Roosevelt told the board. "There is no way we can take you from here to there without a lot of pain, a lot of squealing and you hearing complaints from a lot of folks."

Even with next school year's personnel cuts, officials said, district spending is projected to increase from $524 million this year to nearly $547 million in 2009 without additional belt-tightening.

Under that scenario, Mr. Berdnik said, the district's reserve fund would dwindle from $57 million at the end of 2007 to nearly $30 million in 2008 and zero in 2009. That year, after exhausting the reserve fund, the district would face a $7.1 million deficit.

Mr. Roosevelt said the district's financial picture would be even bleaker if it encounters unexpected expenses, such as the opening of new charter schools in the next few years.

On top of next year's personnel cuts, Mr. Berdnik recommended slashing $16.7 million from the operating budget in 2008, repeating that savings in 2009 and finding an additional $16 million to cut in 2009. He did not say how the cuts would be achieved.

With those cuts, he said, the district's spending would be curbed at $514 million in 2009, and more than $42 million would be left in the reserve fund, which the district has been tapping to balance the operating budget.

Mr. Berdnik did not say how much next year's personnel cuts would save the district. But many teachers are at the top of the salary scale, which is $73,500 for a teacher with a master's degree.

This may be the first time the district has prepared a three-year "rolling" projection of finances. The board made production of the forecast one of Mr. Roosevelt's priorities for the school year.

Mr. Berdnik's assessment was sobering, but he and other officials said they did not want to be unduly alarming.

For example, Mr. Berdnik said 115 teachers already have signed up to retire at the end of the current school year, meaning reduction of 131 teaching positions might be accomplished with few furloughs. In addition, he said no tax increase is under consideration.

Officials added that they hope to draw more families to the district and reinvigorate the tax base with academic improvements. They said the proposed Pittsburgh Promise scholarship program for high school students and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's proposal to offer tax breaks to new city residents could be other draws.