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The Montgomery County school board approved a $2.26 billion operating budget for the next school year on Wednesday that allows the school system to operate with the academic programs it currently uses, but could enact deep cuts if the County Council doesn't fully fund the school system's request.

With a unanimous vote, the board approved a spending plan that is $37.2 million more than Superintendent Jerry D. Weast's original budget proposal in December. The operating budget was increased to include additional state aid that wasn't available when Weast drafted the initial budget.

The school system's proposal assumes the County Council will fund its maintenance-of-effort requirement, which mandates under state law that local governments fund their school systems at least at the previous year's level.

For the Montgomery County Council, that means allocating at least $79.5 million for the school system's budget.

The budget approved Wednesday includes a local contribution of $1.5 billion from county taxpayers — or $11,249 per student, according to the school system's budget proposal.

If the budget is not fully funded, the school system could be forced to enact $43 million in cuts, including reductions in its teacher ranks, which would increase class sizes, school administrators have said.

Administrators won't make the cuts until they know the amount of money coming from the county and state. Still, the school system could cut more from the budget, depending on the revenue picture.

"This is going to be a very difficult budget, even though it's a minimum budget," Weast said during Wednesday's school board meeting.

In April, the county sought a waiver from the state school board on the maintenance-of-effort requirement and argued the recession made it difficult to fully fund the school system.

The state board denied the county's waiver request in May. Soon after, the county government approved a plan to loan the school system $79.5 million toward the budget through a debt service option.

In June, Weast wrote a letter to state Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick questioning whether the county's funding plan was legal. In November, the state Attorney General's Office said the county's funding method was illegal.

Before approving the budget Wednesday, the school board approved a resolution — proposed by school board member Philip Kauffman — that sends a strong message to the council that they do not support the debt service option.

"I think the law is pretty clear that the County Council shall pass a maintenance-of-effort budget for the school system," Kauffman said during the meeting. "Hopefully in the end, the final chapter won't be as bad as we believe."

Also during the meeting, Kauffman proposed eliminating $951,611 from the budget, slated for an expansion of a public school option for pre-kindergarten students with special needs. The money needed to be taken out of the spending plan, Kauffman argued, because the school system had not properly communicated its plan to expand services to parents with children in private placements.

The board rejected Kauffman's proposal.

The budget now will be forwarded to County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) for review. The County Council, which has the final say on the budget, will vote on the proposal in May.