LEWISTON – After weeks of uncertainty, the money managers behind the region’s school departments can finally plug gaping holes in their multimillion-dollar budgets.

The State Department of Education released its preliminary aid-to-education numbers late Thursday to schools across Maine.

For some, it might mean layoffs. For others, it means the possible restoration of jobs or programs that were poised for the budget ax.

In the Oxford Hills school district, which includes Norway, Paris and Oxford, the state’s financial spreadsheets were greeted with shock.

“It’s a decrease of $800,000. We’re devastated,” said SAD 17 Business Manager Cathy Fanjoy. “They’re relying on two-year-old property values. It’s going to be a big hole to fill.”

The eight-town school district is looking at a 4 percent drop in state aid, from $20.1 million last year to about $19.3 million in the 2009-10 school year.

The full financial picture is still unclear, SAD 17 Superintendent Mark Eastman said.

“We need to see the breakouts of every town,” he said. Eastman plans to get those numbers and other information before meeting with his Budget Committee next week to discuss options to fill the gap.

“We’re disappointed in the size of the hole,” he said.

Already, the school district has drawn national attention for the choice of some employees to give back a portion of their wages to preserve jobs that were targeted for layoffs.

In most districts, the state money is the single biggest piece of revenue, approaching the state’s goal of funding 55 percent of total costs.

However, funding is not the same everywhere.

The ebb and flow of state funding to schools is determined by a complicated formula based on enrollment, property values and demographics. The funding figures released late Thursday included federal stimulus money.

In Lewiston, the numbers appeared to give the city’s schools more money than had been expected.

However, Superintendent Leon Levesque said he wanted to examine the state’s information closely before getting his hopes up.

“I’ll be spending the weekend going over the numbers,” Levesque said Friday.

The state listed an 11.8 percent hike in state aid for Lewiston, an increase over last year of more than $3.5 million.

The raw numbers are deceptive, Levesque warned.

Of the increase, almost $2 million is to cover the debt service on the new Geiger Elementary School, a long-promised piece of state funding. Another large piece may be passed on to the city as tax relief.

There may also be a chance to restore some items that have already been cut from the budget.

“I need to look at this more before we bring out the parade,” Levesque said.

In Lisbon, a modest $1,790.65 hike seemed huge merely because it wasn’t a cut.

“We were very pleased,” Superintendent Shannon Welsh said. “This means we can submit a budget that doesn’t affect the tax rate.”

Auburn Superintendent Thomas Morrill took a similar position with his department’s $107,774 decline, representing a drop of less than 1 percent.

“Given the economic climate and situation that’s out there, it’s understandable,” Morrill said.

He had to cancel a planned budget workshop with his School Committee that was scheduled for Saturday. There wasn’t enough time to examine the numbers and what they meant before presenting them to the committee, he said. He plans to discuss the information with the committee in a workshop Wednesday.

The first job will likely be finding the funding to bridge the gap between the new numbers and a working budget that had called for a $9,000 increase.

“We’re going back to look at all of our revenue sources and projections and see what we can do,” Morrill said.

Bethel-based SAD 44 Superintendent David Murphy said the state’s preliminary aid figures would send him and his board back to square one in the development of his district’s 2009-10 operating budget.

“This is a very serious reduction,” said Murphy. “It’s close to $1 million.”

State figures show a reduction of $681,530 from last year’s amount. On top of that, Murphy said the budget development process will include a possible loss of $185,689 in penalties because SAD 44 has not found a partner to form a new regional school unit.

SAD 44’s 2008-09 operating budget was $10.3 million.

“This is severe,” Murphy said. “Everything, positions and programs, will be affected.”

In the newly formed Western Foothills School District, centered in Rumford, Dixfield and Buckfield, the story is a bit different.

The district is comprised of SAD 43, SAD 39 and SAD 21, and the town of Hanover. It will become an official district July 1.

Superintendent Tom Ward said preliminary state aid figures show an increase of about $1 million.

“That’s certainly better than expected,” he said.

How that money will be distributed among the towns in the new district won’t be known for a few more weeks.

The Western Foothills School District board is expected to unveil a starting point for a 2009-10 operating budget Tuesday.

The combined budget for the three districts for school year 2008-09 is about $34 million.

Staff writers Eileen Adams and Leslie Dixon contributed to this report.