DES MOINES - Iowa Gov. Chet Culver delivered a somber budget lesson to school board members from across the state Thursday, but argued financial constraints offer a historic opportunity for reforms.

Culver said the state has to change the way it looks at funding schools and find more efficiencies and cost savings.

"I believe now is the time to challenge this state to rethink education," Culver said. "From preschool to college, the old ways of doing things are no longer an option."

Declining state revenues forced Culver to slash the state budget 10 percent, which included deep cuts in state aid to local schools.

"No one here likes these cuts, including me, and this was not a decision that I wanted to make, but as governor, this was a decision that I felt I had to make," Culver told school board members and officials at the Iowa Association of School Board's annual meeting.

Culver said he does not want to see schools automatically shift the burden they're facing from reduced state funding onto local property taxpayers.

The governor plans to ask the Iowa Legislature to require some districts to use their cash reserves to offset cuts in state aid rather than raising property taxes.

Culver said dozens of school districts already are facing financial hardships and don't have sufficient cash reserves, and said any legislation should acknowledge that reality.

"We're really talking about those school districts that do have a sizable reserve," Culver said.

He said $559 million in federal dollars the state has received has helped save more than 2,400 teaching jobs.