ALBANY RESIDENTS PROTEST PLANS TO ELIMINATE SCHOOL PROGRAMS.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: JAY JOCHNOWITZ Staff writer

ALBANY As dozens of speakers pleaded with the Albany Board of Education to restore proposed funding cuts and preserve programs and jobs, the school district and its citizen budget advisers unveiled some ways to pare the looming $9.2 million budget gap.

While the strategies don't come close to eliminating the deficit, they may offer the board some maneuvering room as it grapples with Superintendent Arthur Walton's $88 million budget.

From the early speeches in a budget hearing Tuesday that was expected to last until midnight, as 58 speakers signed up, the message was overwhelmingly to put the money into …