Iowa school leaders are trying to figure out how they will deal with the news of a 10 percent funding cut - the biggest since their record-keeping started in the 1960s.

Gov. Chet Culver ordered the across-the-board reduction, which includes a $238.5 million cut to foundation aid for schools. Officials at the Iowa Department of Education were trying Thursday to determine the full impact of the funding loss, but they said all school districts will be affected.

"This puts all districts in the difficult position of trying to figure out how they are going to address one of the most significant education cuts in Iowa's history," said Theron Schutte, Bettendorf School District superintendent. "We are going to have to look at everything and make some decisions on how we are going to address this year's budget and going forward. This isn't a one-year problem that is going to get fixed right away. It's going to be a few years."

According to figures from the Iowa School Finance Information Services, estimated state aid reductions for school districts in Scott County include:

• Davenport School District will lose $7.6 million.
• Funding losses for the Bettendorf School District will total almost $1.9 million.
• Pleasant Valley School District faces a $1.6 million reduction.
• North Scott School District will see a $1.3 million funding cut.

Superintendents from Pleasant Valley, Bettendorf and North Scott all said in interviews Thursday they were stunned by the governor's announcement. They had expected and planned for a reduction of as much as 7 percent.

"At this point in time, I'm not sure what we will do," said Jim Spelhaug, Pleasant Valley School District superintendent. "It's back to the drawing board for us relative to a cut of this magnitude."

The three districts will spend the coming weeks working with staff, school board members and other stakeholders to determine how to absorb the loss in funding. Officials said options could include program and staff cuts, increases in local property taxes and borrowing money.

"It's very difficult to swallow," said Jeff Schwiebert, North Scott superintendent. "Our board has looked down the road to make sure we had some cash to account for some of these types of things. But we were never envisioning in our wildest dreams it would be a 10 percent cut. That will take a vast amount of our reserves."

Julio Almanza, Davenport superintendent, did not immediately return requests for an interview. Instead, the district released a statement via e-mail that said the extent of the budgets came as a surprise.

"We will continue to work with our board members and staff to develop a plan to address the necessary cuts. We await further guidance from the Iowa Department of Education on the impact of the cuts on various state programs and services that will affect our district funding," it stated.