Educators bracing for financial disaster were somewhat relieved that the Senate budget plan -- which slashes about $2 billion in school funding -- isn't as damaging as they expected.

The Senate plan passed Sunday preserves voter-approved minimum funding for schools and largely mirrors Gov. Gray Davis' budget blueprint issued in May. But the bill, which the Assembly was expected to consider as early as Monday evening, still cuts deeply into specific programs that provide summer school, reading assistance and textbooks for students.

``All of the cuts are painful, and, yes, we are losing a lot of money on our bottom line,'' said Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Association, which in concert with other education groups spent $1 million lobbying to preserve education funds.

``We are not getting the best, but we aren't getting the worst, either,'' he said.

Among the proposed cuts in education spending are: $250 million from programs that address inequalities in school funding; $129 million in funds to maintain clean campuses; $85 million from summer school programs; and $220 million less for textbooks and materials.

But the Senate bill avoids dipping into the state's general education fund and preserves -- for now -- Proposition 98, the constitutional guarantee for minimum school funding. The Legislature can suspend Proposition 98 during dire economic times.

The Senate bill also would allow districts to suspend the requirement that they keep 3 percent of their money in savings, a policy that could give districts the flexibility to avoid the mass firing of teachers who were issued provisional pink slips in the spring.

Bill Kugler, deputy superintendent of San Jose's East Side Union High School District, said the budget plan is a bit of a relief.

``There is no such thing as good news here, but this is less devastating than anticipated,'' said Kugler, who had been ``pecking away'' at the district's budget for more than a year by chopping spending by $250,000 a month since December.

The district has also saved $2.5 million by cutting 35 positions and is mulling over whether to cut advanced placement classes.

The situation for public schools could worsen next year, since the state will be staring at an estimated $7.9 billion shortfall.

Larry Aceves, superintendent of San Jose's Franklin-McKinley school district, said lawmakers have simply pushed the tough decisions off to next year.

``We'll be going through this again next year and it could be even worse,'' Aceves said. ``They're still just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. All they did is prolong the issue.''