BEAVERTON, Ore. -- Beaverton School District officials calmed the fears of parents at a meeting Tuesday night, assuring them that there were no plans to cut physical education, music and language classes.

Parents attended the budget committee meeting at Southridge High School and fought for their cause by wearing red to save music, green to save physical education and blue to save bilingual education.

While there are $38 million in proposed budget cuts in the district, officials said parents shouldn't worry about the programs being cut.

"I was surprised they were thinking there was elimination of whole programs," said Maureen Wheeler, of the Beaverton School District. "At this time, that's not planned for."

Some of the proposed cuts will come from reductions at the central office, such as supplies, travel and attendance at conferences. The district also expects the attrition of about 100 employees and plans to reduce contract days by about 50 percent. Those moves alone will save more than $13 million, according to the district.

District officials said they support parents' voicing their concerns.

"They've advocated and asked the tough questions and said, 'Please, please, keep our class sizes down. Keep as many staff as possible,'" Wheeler said.

Even if the budget cuts become worse than initially estimated, administrators said they have already started to prepare for them. Regardless, they said music and P.E. programs will continue.

Beaverton Parents Worry School Programs May Be Cut