MANSFIELD - As many as 31 teachers could be cut from the town's schools before next fall in order to eliminate a looming $2.2 million budget gap, Mansfield Superintendent Brenda Hodges warned Tuesday amid growing concern about the school department's precarious financial situation.

With fewer teachers, class sizes would rise in every grade, bringing the number of students in some classrooms to as many as 32. That number drew gasps from some of the parents in attendance at the informational meeting where Hodges described the situation. Support staff, which has been pared pack in recent years, would be cut further, as well.

The school committee has not made any decisions on what cuts to make, and Hodges cautioned that such extensive cuts are a worst-case scenario.

Still, she said, balancing the budget this year will be "very challenging" regardless, and will have to be accomplished by laying off personnel.

"What we don't want is our town and community to be surprised," Hodges said. "We believe that it is our responsibility to give you a picture of what it looks like." The school department has requested a budget of $38.9 million in 2008-09 to maintain the same level of services offered now.

But based on preliminary state aid estimates, Town Manager John D'Agostino is forecasting that the schools will only get $36.7 million next year. This year's budget is $35.5 million.

The increase is being driven by fast-growing spending on energy, transportation, teacher salaries and special education, according to Finance Director Edward Vozzella.

Final numbers from the state will not be available for weeks, but D'Agostino said any change in the amount of aid will be relatively small. "It's not going to be a significant windfall of money to solve our problems," he said.

That led school committee member Steven Greenberg to suggest the possibility of an override to balance the budget without cuts. "I'm appalled at what we're even considering," he said.

But finance committee member James Lezzara expressed skepticism about whether the board of selectmen and Mansfield taxpayers would support an override to cover routine annual expenses.

"This is kind of an average budget," Lezzara said. "If we can't fund an average budget, how are we going to fund (a budget) if we have an outstanding circumstance?"

During the meeting, principals from the town's schools described the impact the proposed cuts would have on their students.

Adjustment counselors, reading teachers, and the Jordan-Jackson Elementary School's academic learning center would all be eliminated.

Larger class sizes were a particular concern, with administrators worrying about the long-term impact of reducing the amount of attention individual students get from educators. As another example of the proposed cuts' wide-ranging impact, Kathy Podesky, a principal at Jordan/Jackson Elementary School, noted there are not enough coat racks in each classroom to handle some of the projected numbers of students in each class.

TED NESI covers Mansfield for The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at tnesi@thesunchronicle.com or 508-236-0434.