PROVIDENCE — Maxine Wright, a freshman at Classical High School, held up her dog-eared biology textbook and then read the publication date — 1993.

“How,” she asked, “can we compete in the 21st century using a 20th-century textbook?”

Wright wasn’t the only person complaining about the dearth of basic educational materials at last night’s public hearing on the proposed 2008-2009 school budget.

Erica Rodriguez said her son is struggling in U.S. history and yet he doesn’t have a textbook. When she offered to buy it, she said the teacher wouldn’t tell her the title:

“We never did get an answer,” Rodriguez said. “The teacher said he didn’t have enough books and that the kids didn’t take care of the ones they had.”

Maryclaire Knight, the parent of a Classical High School student, complained that the teachers’ contract kept teachers from communicating with parents about student progress:

“The contract allows bad behavior,” she said. “You leave messages but there is no response. The teacher is the first point of contact and he is the first point of breakdown.”

And the district’s financial situation is only going to get worse, according to Mark Dunham, the School Department’s chief financial officer. He said that the schools are facing a projected $9.7-million budget deficit, one that neither the state nor the city may be willing to address. Governor Carcieri, who is struggling with his own budget crisis, has already said that there will be no increases in education aid this year and the General Assembly seems unlikely to bail out local districts.

Meanwhile, the School Department is reeling from three consecutive years of budget cuts, which have led to the loss of nearly 300 teaching positions as well as the virtual elimination of arts and music in the schools.

“This is a really serious situation,” Dunham told a smattering of parents last night. “We are seriously underfunded and we are cutting from the core.”

In the proposed budget, the city’s schools are allocated a total of $3.4 million for items such as textbooks, materials and technology, but that money has been declining at a rapid pace in recent years. In 2004, elementary schools received $143 per pupil for these materials; in the 2009 budget, per pupil spending has dropped to $91. The same holds true for spending at the middle and high school levels. In special education, schools set aside $207 per child in 2004; next year, that figure will drop to $125.

Yet the school system spends more than $5 million on services to private and parochial school children, including busing, crossing guards, nurses, textbooks and special education, services that are required by state law.

As the state share of the district’s budget continues to decline, the schoolchildren are becoming poorer. Approximately 80 percent of the district’s 26,000 students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, a key indicator of childhood poverty. And, according to Dunham, it costs more to educate a child living in poverty.

Meanwhile, the district’s overall per pupil spending — $13,782 — is only slightly higher than the state average, Dunham said. The School Department’s average teacher salary is $67,000, only 2.8 percent above the state average, the fifth highest in the state.

Dunham also said that 98 percent of the proposed $322.9-million budget is fixed, with $249 million going toward salaries and benefits and $16 million for out-of-district placements for special education students.

“What happens if we can’t meet our obligations?” asked School Board President Mary McClure.

Dunham said that the district would have to ask the state for waivers on state regulations, which it did with special education this year, or cut sports programs or busing. None of these options, he said, are palatable.

The School Board will send its budget to Mayor David N. Cicilline on April 28.

lborg@projo.com