By: Alyssa Sunkin / The Citizen

AUBURN -- For the Auburn Enlarged City School District, the word is "painful."

School administrators and board members threw out a lot of words during a board workshop Tuesday to describe measures that need to be taken to offset cuts to school aid as New York deals with the current fiscal crisis, but they were sure not to sugarcoat how hard the next several years may be.

Under Gov. David Paterson's preliminary budget proposal, Auburn is in line to lose more than $1.4 million in state aid during the 2009-10 academic year. According to business administrator Marianne O'Connor, for Auburn -- which is currently operating under a state-mandated contingency budget -- to pay its bills for the next fiscal year, the district needs to find $3.5 million.