It was like drafting for a fantasy football team, but there were no weak players. And it was unlikely that people were participating for the fun of it.

Parents, staff and other community members prioritized and then selected which school programs and positions from a list of partially funded or not funded items by the state they think the Central Kitsap School District should keep next school year at a community meeting.

With about a $6.3 million shortfall for the 2012-2013 school year, the district is seeking the community’s help — earlier in the process and more in depth than past years.

“I’m glad it’s not my final decision. I think it should all be funded,” said Debbie Schultz, who attended the first of three scheduled public budget meetings on Monday.

Schultz, a secretary in the off-campus parent-partnership program for homeschool students, said many extracurricular programs — that are not funded by the state — are what keep some students in school. Her program is not one of the 31 items on the discussion list or set for possible cuts. She had two children go through the district and said her son was part of the lacrosse team and played in the band at Klahowya Secondary School. He wanted to go to school because he’s a social person and wanted to be there to see his friends, she said.

“My son probably wouldn’t have graduated without athletics and band,” said Schultz also giving credit to “operation graduation,” which helped her son make up credits he had lost.

While extracurricular athletics and activities and its support positions make up about $2.38 million that the district does not receive state money for, parents and staff also looked at a variety of other programs including library, music, in-school suspension as well as the district pool, elementary teacher assistants, school security and many other items. About 50 people attended the budget meeting Monday at Klahowya. Two other meetings were also scheduled at the high schools in the district earlier this week. In February, the district plans to have online surveys available for additional feedback on the budget process.

Superintendent Greg Lynch told the gathered group at the meeting that the district’s anticipated shortfall — the largest the district has had to face — is because of the loss of federal heavy impact aid as well as other federal and state cuts. No programs currently on the discussion list — that adds up to $12.37 million of unfunded items — will automatically be gone next school year but there is the potential, he said.

“It’s not a reduction list, people automatically go to that,” said David McVicker, district’s finance director.

Allan Garber, who has a first grade daughter in the district, came to the meeting to better understand how a school budget works and to learn exactly how the district got into its current budget state. Mid-way through the evening, after the district gave a presentation, he didn’t feel better informed.

“At this point, not so much,” he said. “As a parent, I don’t know the ins or outs of it. I can’t fairly give input.”

There were others in attendance that had similar thoughts to Garber’s in terms of the lack of information.

“There’s not enough information. We need more details,” said Allen Banks.

Banks had two children who were in the school district in the late-1990s and said prioritizing the list was difficult because so many other factors come into play than what was merely presented.

Banks said he would have liked to know what goes into a school budget and how much teachers’ wages cost. He added that there were some scenarios to eliminate .4 administrator positions but that a decision to do that could be swayed by knowing whether or not the elimination of those posts meant that no one would be left to operate those departments or not.

Another suggestion Banks had was for the meeting to have been set for a longer period of time to be able to really delve into the meeting’s activities.

“Education is the most important thing in our community in my opinion,” he said aloud to all meeting attendees and Lynch. “We’re not doing it justice with just an hour-and-a-half.”

Nina Rodriguez, a mother of two children in elementary school in the district, said she wanted the district to take ownership for the budget situation. Despite cuts from the state and federal level, she said the district should have prepared for it.

“I don’t think they really want to hear what we have to say,” said Rodriguez. “They just want us to vote for the levy. They are asking us to be a Band-Aid.”

The school district has a supplemental levy that district voters will be able to support by Feb. 14. If approved, the levy would bring in about $7.6 million over a two-year period beginning in 2013. The measure would increase tax rates by 62 cents per $1,000 of assessed home value.

Despite her thoughts, Rodriguez said she supposes people will have to support the levy. She already sees 26 students in her daughter’s kindergarten class. She doesn’t want to see that number increase.

“Do I want my kids to suffer? No,” she said.

Zoe James, an English and theater arts teacher at Central Kitsap High School, said Tuesday morning that she planned to attend the second community budget meeting that evening and hopefully bring some of her students too.

In charge of the school’s drama club, James is in the midst of working with students for Winterfest, a March performance of original student works. Planning for the spring, James was hoping to help the students prepare for a murder mystery type play but now is considering putting on a musical instead.

If her program — or part of it — is eliminated next school year, at least her students would have been part of a musical this year.

“I’m contemplating doing a musical just because I don’t know what next year will bring,” James said. “Just because right now it’s unclear.”

“Hopefully there will be some programs that will be cut back than eliminated,” James said. “My preference would be to still have programs available to students.”

At Central Kitsap, James said she has about 20 to 30 students during busier times with the drama club and a core group of about 10 to 12.

While many people tend to focus on the programs that they think directly make a difference for students, Robin Schnuit, who is a substitute teacher at Cougar Valley Elementary School with two children in the district, reminded others at Monday’s meeting that other items on the list are just as important. Money for custodial staff are not funded by the state.

“A clean school is a healthy school,” she said. “We don’t want maintenance to cost more in the future.”