Uniondale school officials are exploring their options after voters in the district shot down their proposed $197.3 million budget.

The Board of Education presented four possibilities at a public meeting Tuesday night.

Most people there rejected the contingency budget proposal, which would likely result in cuts to school equipment, field trips and clubs.

Many also said they didn't like another proposal that would have simply put the failed budget up for a re-vote.

The other two plans garnered more support. One would reduce expenditures, in part by freezing teacher salaries.

The other would use the same budget but add an infusion of funding from the district's reserves.

"We don't want to take any money away from the fund balance," says Superintendent William Lloyd. "We don't want to lower salaries for staff, because they work very hard."

But, he conceded, "we have to make hard choices."

The district voted on one plan that will reduce expenditures of $1,282,196 from the defeated budget, resulting in a tax levy decrease of -1.048 percent.