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TUSD backed off a proposal Tuesday night to cut middle-school sports as a means to help balance its budget.

But the district's Governing Board is considering more than $9 million in cuts that could drastically change education at Tucson Unified School District. Among the proposals: slashing Library Services staffing, eliminating 21 bus monitors, cutting field trips and closing its clothing bank.

The cuts are necessary, some officials have said, to pay for teacher raises and cover $4 million in funding shortages for programs.

While the district is considering slashing millions of dollars from its $360 million budget, it was one of the smallest proposed cuts under consideration at Tuesday night's Governing Board meeting that drew the most attention from the audience members.

District officials had considered doing away with interscholastic middle-school sports as a way to save roughly $56,000 in transportation costs.

Initially officials had thought the cuts would save the district a million dollars, but officials later realized that was not the case, Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer said.

"What has happened through this process is a refinement, and frankly a major correction in what those costs could be," Pfeuffer said. "With those facts in front of us, I would strongly recommend that we remove this for consideration as a budget cut."

The board followed suit, tabling it by a 5-0 vote, and, in turn, sparking cheers of joy from the large crowd of parents and students at the meeting at district headquarters, 1010 E. 10th St.

"I have no idea why they would propose it," said Judd Weitzner, a teacher and coach at Alice Vail Middle School. "A lot of kids who are borderline kids play sports."

Lexii Casarez, a 13-year-old at Alice Vail, said when she recently heard sports might be cut, her heart sank. "I was really disappointed," she said. "Sports are very important."

Although nearly half of the audience left after the board decided to leave middle-school sports alone, the board continued to grapple with much larger potential cuts — particularly the elimination of elementary-school librarians and their technical support staff.

The district is considering eliminating the Library Technical Services Department, which provides technical support and does cataloging and online ordering, to save roughly $167,000. For the 2008-09 school year, the district is considering $1.3 million in library cuts, one of a handful of possible "future cuts" that were also presented by Pfeuffer.

The district is also looking at a hiring freeze for all positions that are not directly related to the classroom as a way to save $5.5 million, which is roughly how much this year's contract with teachers and other workers will cost.

TUSD and its teachers last month tentatively agreed to a 3 percent, across-the-board raise.

There were several exchanges among board members that gave the meeting a helpless feel, as the board seemed to be trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

For example, while discussing the elimination of bus-monitor positions, Pfeuffer said he was interested in putting cameras on buses as an alternative. At an earlier point in the meeting, board member Bruce Burke said it was time for the district to consider closing schools as a way to cut costs.