A warning to DeKalb County schools employees: Your job could be in jeopardy.

School officials have been trying to find a way to pay for salary supplements for teachers and staff without resorting to layoffs. On Wednesday, they proposed to school board members cutting an additional $5 million in programs to help fund the supplements.

Board members, however, rebuffed them. Instead, they now seem intent on cutting staff.

"We hold very high that we never lay people off or fire anyone," board member Jim Redovian said during a budget committee meeting. "It's time we don't do that."

That stance could create a showdown between a schools superintendent who doesn't want to drop people in a bad economy, and his board which seems ready to do so.

At odds over how to squeeze out more dollars for teachers angry that they may not get the customary salary supplements, board members repeatedly referred to "over-staffing" for departments like the school system police force, support services and managers.

And they questioned Superintendent Crawford Lewis' willingness to instead cut areas like the system's television station, a summer program for rising ninth-graders and software upgrades for computers.

"We're talking about taking away from the very people [teachers] who impact those students," member Cassandra Anderson-Littlejohn said.

Lewis could not attend the meeting because of a scheduling conflict, but is expected to answer his board at a budget committee meeting on Friday.

As originally proposed, Lewis' budget gave all employees a raise, made few changes in DeKalb's educational programs and had already included cuts to balance the budget without requiring a property tax increase.

But what it didn't do is also pay teachers and staff "step" increases, which are a kind of salary supplement based on years of experience. Denying the step increases has angered many teachers, who have lambasted county officials during a series of meetings.

So, why look at staff cuts? Because salaries and benefits are projected to make up 91 percent of next year's proposed general operations budget — which, at $886.1 million, is the bulk of the $1.1 billion proposal.

The budget would give all employees a 2.5 percent raise, but it would not give teachers the yearly step increases many have come to expect. Officials said they would need to find at least another $10 million to fund the increases next school year.

Board members asked Lewis to suggest additional savings — or make additional cuts — that could give them enough to pay for the step increases. They now may have forced him to suggest which people can go, and not just which program.