CAPE ELIZABETH – The Cape Elizabeth School Board has scheduled a public forum for Tuesday, Dec. 8, at Town Hall to solicit ideas from the community on how to deal with a $621,440 curtailment of state aid to Cape Elizabeth in the current budget year.

The forum will be at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

The School Board also plans to create an ad hoc committee to come up with ideas on how to finance town schools in a time of significant decreases in state aid.

The cut to Cape Elizabeth is a part of a statewide $38 million curtailment of state aid recently announced by the Department of Education. The Cape Elizabeth schools have a budget this year of just under $20.2 million.

Cape Elizabeth’s subsidy from the state this year is $2.6 million. That includes $1.9 million in state money and nearly $700,000 in federal stimulus money. The cut of $621,440 is a 33 percent reduction in the state-funded portion of the subsidy.