On Thursday night, the Columbia Public School board discussed ways to cut the school budget to save $10 million for the next school year. Lately, we've all felt the pinch, from galloping gas prices to the growing grocery bills, but now, teachers are feeling an even bigger strain.

"I think their concern is their salary," said Hickman High School principal Mike Jeffers.

The possible cuts include . If you reduce the number of days teachers and administrators work from 189 days to 187 days, that saves only about $35,000. If you cut back on non-classroom teachers like math coaches and it starts to make a bigger dent. If you reduce the number of elementary and secondary classroom teachers, that would save much more.

"With the cost of insurance going up and the retirement system," Jeffers said. "You know more money going to retirement. Life keeps going and costs keep increasing, so I think that is a concern."

Some say this wouldn't even be a problem if the 54-cent tax levy passed on April 8.

"If the levy had passed, we promised our voters we would still have $5 million in reductions," says Dr. Lynn Barnett, assistant superintendent. "Which we could have done without cutting these programs that we're talking about and without cutting classroom teachers,"

However, no tax levy means no salary increase.

"It was very clear in our presentations with the tax levy that if it did not pass there would be no ... We would not be able to work with the salary schedule," Barnett said. "That has been very clear."

To compensate teachers, the Columbia Public School board is considering a flat rate of $500 for all teachers. We should see a first draft of those cuts next month.