MIAMI -- Fresh from his trip to Tallahassee, Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho attended a town hall meeting Wednesday night to save North Miami Senior High, one of the schools with a failing grade on the state's FCAT system.

There he appealed to parents to communicate with state lawmakers regarding the budget crisis and the impact it's having on education.

“Make your voices heard so Tallahassee hears you. Additional cuts to education cannot take place," Carvahlo said.

On Tuesday, Carvahlo and board members met with state lawmakers and attended budget meetings. He said their pleas were heard but the forecast was not promising.

“That's the disturbing part. The budget deficit that the state is facing just grew from $1.4 billion to $2.4 billion in just a matter of weeks. Unfortunately rather than getting better, the economy is getting worse," he said.

Teachers who are currently in contract negotiations are watching the board’s every move closely. The district and the union are odds over pay raises, although a tentative agreement on health benefits was reached.

“This way they can go on winter recess knowing that their health insurance is covered for all of 2009," said union negotiator Karen Aronwitz.

School board members are keeping all options open, including suing the state over funding designations. Carvahlo is hopeful that state will seriously consider moving dollars from building funds to operations budgets.

“If we have to decide between bricks and mortar, capital dollars and people, we ought to pick people and educational programs to safeguard the quality of education,” Carvahlo said.

The final budgets should be revealed when the state legislature meets in a special session on Jan. 5.