North Bay educators' reactions ranged from concern to encouragement Friday after catching their first glimpse of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to eliminate the state's $14 billion deficit.

A proposal to increase K-12 funding by almost $2 billion was welcomed by Sonoma County school officials.

"At this point, based on what I'm seeing and hearing, it's no worse and maybe slightly better than what we have been planning for," said Steve Bolman, deputy superintendent of business and administration for the Petaluma City School District.

On the other hand, higher education officials were chagrined by a proposal to cut $240 million from the California State University system for the 2004-05 fiscal year.

"These are cuts on top of cuts," said Sonoma State University President Ruben Armiñana. "I'm not surprised. I'm not happy, but I'm not surprised."

Armiñana said that would translate into about a $5.5 million budget cut for SSU. That's in addition to a $5.2 million cut it took last year under Gov. Gray Davis.

"We have a huge problem ahead of us, and it's going to take awhile for us to get out of it," Armiñana said. "There is no way to manage this deficit without an enormous amount of pain."

To Armiñana, the immediate pain under Schwarzenegger's proposal could come in the form of 600 fewer slots for full-time students, he said. It also could mean fewer part-time faculty members and a limited availability of classes.

For most educators, it was too soon to gauge exactly what the impact of a 304-page budget summary would be on education in Sonoma County.

In the K-12 system, educators were unable to immediately determine how North Bay schools would be affected by a proposal to take property tax revenue from local governments and use it to cover a portion of the state's financial obligation to schools.

Santa Rosa School District Associate Superintendent Doug Bower said it was "encouraging," however, that the state might provide more money than the district previously expected.

School officials still need more details, he added, but a proposed cost-of-living increase could mean an extra $1.5 million for the city's schools next year. That would help offset budget cuts now estimated at up to $7 million for the district.

The budget also suggests the state would spare schools further cuts in exchange for not paying them $2 billion owed under California's constitutional funding guarantee.

But Bower cautioned that the budget plan depends on voters approving Schwarzenegger's March bond measure. Should it be rejected, Schwarzenegger would need to come up with a new budget that could be "pretty ugly," he said.

"We've got a big, big fork in the road," Bower said. "The voters have a say this time, not just the Legislature and the governor."

For policy makers in higher education, the impact of the proposed budget was a little more clear.

Schwarzenegger's budget calls for a 10 percent fee hike for undergraduate students in the CSU and University of California systems. Graduate students would see a 40 percent fee increase.

And fees at community colleges would increase from $18 a credit to $26. Students who already have bachelor's degrees would pay $50 a unit.

Santa Rosa Junior College officials were unavailable for comment Friday.

Thomas Nussbaum, chancellor of California Community Colleges, said in a statement that the state's 108 community colleges were spared the deep cuts given to other state and local government programs.

"Given the tremendous budget gap that the state faces ... this budget confirms that the governor considers the community colleges to be a priority," he wrote.

During a news conference Friday in Sacramento, state Secretary of Education Richard Riordan said, "Absolutely nobody will be turned down because they're too poor to find the fees."

He said the difference would be made up by loans and grants.

However, Armiñana said he was concerned about the proposed elimination of funding for educational opportunity grants that provide financial aid to low-income students.

"We are going to have to figure out how to absorb that cut in order to maintain those programs," he said.