Blaine White received a pink slip again last week.

This is the second year the Folsom Cordova Unified counselor has been handed a layoff notice by his principal. He was rehired in September.

White joins about 2,500 Sacramento County school employees who recently learned their jobs are on the line.

They will have an uneasy wait.

School officials say few of the preliminary pink slips will be rescinded by the final state-mandated deadline to notify teachers by May 15. District officials are too nervous about the uncertainty of the state budget.

District administrators can't be sure how much money they can expect for the next school year until tax extensions proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown are decided.

The governor said he won't make any new cuts to education if voters pass a June ballot measure to extend three tax increases. If they don't, he warns that K-12 and community colleges' share of the state budget would be cut by billions of dollars.

First, the Legislature must put the measures on the ballot, and should that happen, voters would decide the tax extensions' fate in June.

"Over the last year, we have rescinded nearly every pink slip," said Sacramento City Unified Superintendent Jonathan Raymond. "If the extension doesn't happen, it will be different next year."

White, who has taught for 10 years, said he may return to the private sector. "I haven't seen a lot of great signs that it will make the June ballot," he said. "Even if it does, I'm not sure what the public will do."

Sacramento City Teachers Association President Linda Tuttle said she has yet to see a list of how many teachers will be laid off.

"Everybody is just devastated by this," Tuttle said. "Teachers are saying, 'Wow, this is my fifth year in a row getting a pink slip.' People say they can't do this year after year. This is the time of year where they talk at each site about what is your hire date."

A teacher's hire date – which is generally the first day of school of the year they begin teaching – plays a big role when it comes to pink slips. That's because the last-hired teachers are the first to receive layoff notices, except in positions the district chooses to protect. So, if two math teachers have the same hire date and one position is available, Tuttle said it comes down to chance on who stays.

"Sometimes they put names in a cup or flip a coin," Tuttle said. "They all mutually agree how it happens and it's never easy. … One principal called me up really choking up (over it)."

Districts across California have slashed hundreds of jobs over the past two years to balance budgets strained by $17 billion in state budget cuts.

Last year, about 2,000 teachers received preliminary pink slips locally, and 23,225 educators got notices statewide.

In 2009, 28,000 teachers received pink slips and 16,000 eventually lost their jobs, according to the California Teachers Association.

"I was pink-slipped my first three years I was teaching," said David Sanchez, CTA president. "A friend of mine was pink-slipped after 28 years of teaching music. You think you have job security and you don't."

Sanchez says the union won't know for sure how many preliminary pink slips were issued until Tuesday. He expects the numbers to be similar to last year.

Teachers weren't the only recent cuts. In the last two weeks, Sacramento City Unified voted to cut all sports, San Juan Unified eliminated adult education and Elk Grove Unified went to one-way busing for the few students still being bused.

"Our district unfortunately is in our third year of significant budget cuts," said Elk Grove Superintendent Steven Ladd. "All our cuts are painful."

Budget cuts have made board meetings more contentious.

San Juan Unified had a full house and deputy on duty when the board offered its final vote on next year's budget Tuesday night. The district has decided to have an officer at all of its board meetings for the time being, said Trent Allen, district spokesman.

"Public meetings have gotten crazy lately," Allen said. "It's precautionary because of cuts being proposed and changes being proposed."

Parents are frustrated.

"I think a lot of people are exhausted from going to and sitting at school board meetings and community forums," said Sharon Thurmond, a parent in the Natomas Unified School District. Both her children attend charter schools.

Joe Sison, a parent of two students at Phoebe Hearst Elementary School in Sacramento City Unified, says his biggest concern in an increase in class size.

"If worst comes to worst, I can pull my kids out and put them in private school," he said. "But I like public schools.

Monica Jones, a Natomas Unified parent, said the budget cuts are eroding the school experience.

"People who don't have much are already suffering because they can't afford anything outside of schools," she said. "Some schools aren't offering sports in middle schools. You have kids that have nothing left to do."

Thurmond is concerned about the loss of the arts and other programs in public schools.

"We've cut away the legs and the arms and now we're cutting out the heart," Thurmond said. "What does that leave for our children?"

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Call The Bee's Diana Lambert, (916) 321-1090. Follow her on Twitter @dianalambert.