A state proposal to cut Cape Elizabeth schools’ general-purpose aid has put the town’s budget preparations in limbo.

Cape school officials learned of the proposal Friday afternoon from Maine Department of Education Commissioner Sue Gendron. It would lower the aid from $3.1 million to $2.6 million for the 2009-2010 budget year.

Cape officials scrambled Monday night to cover the potential $524,000 loss, aiming to save a combined municipal-school budget engineered to lower property taxes in the next fiscal year.

At the Town Council finance committee meeting with the school department Monday night, a majority of both groups said they could see lowering the schools’ contingency budget from $233,000 to $70,000 and transferring $200,000 from the town’s undesignated surplus to take a $363,000 chunk out of the loss.

The taxpayers would need to come up with the remaining $161,000, which could result in raising property taxes from $17.44 to $17.55, a 0.6 percent increase.

Town Councilor Penny Jordan was absent and the Town Council and School Board need to take official votes before that would happen.

The original school budget included the $3.1 million in state aid. If that figure stayed, Cape residents would’ve seen a two-cent drop in their tax rate, from $17.44 per $1,000 valuation to $17.42.

“Nothing is set in stone yet,” Cape Elizabeth Superintendent Alan Hawkins said Monday night. “I plan on speaking with state officials during the next few days to see if we can do something about their proposal to cut our aid. It could go back up or could go down even more.”

The state Legislature is expected to vote on its final budget in the next two weeks.

While waiting for that vote, Cape will still have its April 13 public hearing for the municipal budgets of $8.5 million for the town, $967,000 for county assessment and $1.1 million for community services.

The public will still be allowed to speak on the school budget of $20 million, but town officials can’t guarantee concrete information such as where potential cuts could be made and if they would be necessary.

“I was all set to vote on the school budget tonight,” council Chairman James Rowe said. “I’m not comfortable making any decisions now until we have a better understanding as to what is going to happen with the state money.”

The School Board will meet on Monday at 7:30 a.m. to discuss possible budget changes that could include staff and program cuts. Hawkins said he did not know as of Monday night what cuts could be made or even if they would need to be made.

The budget prior to Friday recommended cutting three educational technician positions from the school department.

“(Further staff cuts) is certainly something we don’t want to do because we were all set with this budget until Friday afternoon,” Hawkins said.

State aid to school districts is determined by a complex formula that includes student population and property valuations.

School Board members said they were confused why Cape’s aid is being cut while other towns similar to Cape in student population and property values, such as Yarmouth, increased by $500,000.

“Something else appears to be driving this,” board member Rebecca Millett said. “I don’t see how Yarmouth gets a raise while we take a huge cut.”

Cape Councilor Sara Lennon urged town leaders to push the state for answers and to get the proposal changed.

“I think it’s preposterous that Cape is getting this large of a cut,” she said. “We need to do more than just contact state officials. We need to be camping out in front of the State House, organizing and demanding answers.”

The May 12 referendum vote for Cape residents to approve the school budget is still scheduled.