President Barack Obama has set a high bar for education, calling for longer school days, tougher academic standards, better recruiting and retention of teachers, closure or reorganization of failing schools and data systems to track student and teacher performance.

Last week Natomas Unified School District trustees cut $15.2 million from the district's spending plan by shortening the school day for juniors and seniors, eliminating a graduation requirement, cutting five days from the school year, pulling buses off the road, cutting staff, canceling technology contracts and increasing class sizes, among other cuts.

The district had already cut $31.2 million earlier this year, including $8 million from the 2009-10 budget.

School districts throughout the state are making the same tough choices -- some are even shuttering summer-school programs and decimating school-supply budgets.

Is it realistic to expect California school districts to move toward Obama's reforms, while they simultaneously scurry to make ends meet?

"All these things are things we'd love to do," said Teri Burns, president of the Natomas Unified school board.

"But with the state coming in with 20 percent less money, it still isn't possible to make these things happen and still do all the things people expect of us."

But on a recent visit to Sacramento, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was unambiguous: California, with an eighth of the nation's students, should lead in reforming education.

Reform wasn't on the mind of Sacramento-area educators when school doors opened last month. School officials worried about a lack of basic supplies for classrooms and offices. Many were asking the community for donations of copier paper, glue and other necessities.

"Cuts have been devastating, and schools have been hustling to keep the lights on," state schools chief Jack O'Connell told The Bee on Wednesday. "Painful decisions have had to be made because education is not a priority."

California schools received $18 billion less than anticipated in state funding a year ago, O'Connell said. That was in spite of an influx of federal dollars from the American Recovery Act.

The federal government has set aside $100 billion in American Recovery Act funds to aid education. So far, though, only $4 billion has found its way to California. The state is due for a second round of stimulus funding and could gain millions more in competitive grants.

"It doesn't come close to making up for the massive cutbacks imposed on schools," O'Connell said.

But the state schools chief doesn't think districts should use budget restrictions as a reason not to make reforms.

"The challenges are immense, but I operate under a no-excuse zone and our student won't wait for us," he said.

O'Connell said California schools must continue to improve test scores and narrow the achievement gap, despite diminishing budgets.

He's hoping for help for reforms from another pool of federal money, $4.35 billion in competitive federal education grants for the program called Race to the Top. The funds will go to as many as 20 states that can set up winning models for education innovation, according to federal officials. Applications for the funds are due in December. The first round of awards will be given in March.

"The Race to the Top money is an unprecedented amount of federal dollars for systematic change," O'Connell said.

The state isn't likely to see any of these funds if legislators don't rework a law that prevents teachers from being evaluated based on student test scores. State legislators are meeting now to consider such changes.

But even a resolution to this problem doesn't mean all local districts will see these funds; some officials say the grants won't offer long-term solutions.

"You have to think twice before you set up a program with one-time money that is going to go away," Burns said.

O'Connell remains hopeful that the state's districts can do more with less.

"Our students are dependent on us, despite the financial challenges emanating from Sacramento," O'Connell said.

"We need to have a well-skilled, educated work force. Part of our economic recovery must be an investment in education."

Call The Bee's Diana Lambert, (916) 321-1090.