DANVILLE — A public hearing Wednesday on a proposal to cut 82 positions at Danville District 118 Schools ended with expected board approval and a sharp exchange between presidents of the school board and teachers’ union.

About a dozen teachers and school parents implored the board to reconsider making the cuts just before an overflow crowd, led by Danville Education Association President Robin Twidwell, stood up and angrily left the meeting.

At the heart of the dispute is the union’s insistence the district use nearly $19 million in reserve funds the administration says must be protected in light of nearly $6 million in late and threatened state dollars, and because the funds are legally dedicated and can’t be transferred to payroll.

Twidwell said the union felt the administration had not considered all of the alternatives outside of the “especially drastic” reduction in force plan, which with the board vote, begins the 60-day-notice period for severed staff.

“Do you have a Plan B?” she asked. “We’ve not seen a Plan B. The demands on our staff are enormous. How will the remaining staff maintain existing (non-grant) programs?”

Added DEA Vice President Daniel Hile, “It really is a choice you’re making. I think what bothers me is Danville students will bear the brunt.”

“The simple issue remains that for the things we want to do, we have to have the money,” countered Superintendent Mark Denman.

Following the hearing, board members took individual votes on $300,000 in non-staff cuts and at each of the seniority staffing levels. Randy Ashton cast a “no” vote on the first vote of 28 first-year teachers due to personal connections with staff members, he said afterward.

“We don’t want to see teaching positions eliminated,” Ashton said. “But those are a lot of questions we don’t have answers for.”

“We shouldn’t stop working and planning,” added board vice president Gina McGuire. “I haven’t given up hope and I still pray that this is not permanent.”

Board member Judd Peck said if estimates bear out, the district could lose its reserve as quickly as within three years.

“This is not a decision for this moment,” he said. “We have to be cautious.”

Board President Bill Dobbles made the last board comment, saying union officials had been asked to make furlough or wage and benefit concessions to save positions, but they had not considered the idea.

“We cannot do those without agreement from the DEA,” Dobbles said, noting he understood that class size did make a difference in a child’s education despite studies showing otherwise.

That evoked the following response from Twidwell: “I can’t even believe you’re going there Bill Dobbles,” and a request to speak to that issue.

Dobbles declined, saying the hearing was over. With that, the entire audience stood and left the room grumbling. One person shouted, “You used to be one of us,” referring to Dobbles’ former teaching career.

“I’m disappointed in what I just witnessed,” said board member Frank Young. “We were asked about putting the children first and looking for answers outside the box. That’s not how this is going to work.”

“I am disappointed in the DEA,” Dobbles said following the meeting. “They are unwilling to even listen to that. They have been given that information.”

Twidwell was not available for comment following the meeting and did not return phone calls requesting a comment.

Earlier in the day, she had sent out a “talking points” release to the news media indicating the board had not officially put the issue of salary or benefits before the DEA.

“It has been reported that the DEA has not responded to a district proposal to freeze salaries in order to maintain positions,” the statement said. “No formal proposal has been offered by the district to the DEA, so it is erroneous to conclude that the DEA has not responded to this proposal. Once contract bargaining begins the DEA will consider the district’s proposals as we always do. However, the DEA will not take concessions in order to preserve district administrative positions that have no direct contact with students.”

School officials said Wednesday that half of the positions, those funded by state grants, could still be called back if the state fully funded programs such as preschool and other early intervention programs.

But that sounded unlikely anytime soon following Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget address earlier in the day that proposed a 17 percent hack in the education budget unless Illinois residents were willing to back a 1 percent income tax hike

“We still don’t know,” lamented Superintendent Mark Denman, who said the uncertainty had led to the decision to cut all state-funded position. “When will we know?”

He said even a 5 percent reduction in state funding would force the district to dip into reserves and he said the total could rise to nearly $10 million by year’s end.

The other half of District 118 position cuts are aimed at non-grant funded positions, which officials say is due to a dwindling tax base and losses in interest-revenue income tied to the generally poor condition of the economy. (For a breakdown of positions go to the school’s Web site, http://www.danville.k12.il.us/, and click on the “District 118 Response to the State Financial Crisis” portal.)

“We’re at a crossroads,” said Denman before recommending the board accept the cuts. “Unlike the state, we cannot pay our bills late. If we stop paying for transportation, buses stop running.”

He said the cuts were made following a review of all district positions and programs. The loss of three School Administrative Managers, created to allow building principals to concentrate on academics, made the percentage cut of administration versus teaching staff about even at 10.

Twidwell has said the cuts could lead to class-size increases as high as 33 percent, though Denman countered Wednesday class sizes would remain within union contract rules.

Several parents and teachers offered emotional pleas to save the grant-funded programs, using their children as examples of their value.

Most asked the board to consider using the reserve funds to extend those programs for a year until the state was on better financial footing, while a few said the district should consider other non-classroom alternatives such consolidating administrative positions.