The Roseville City School District is considering whether to shutter Woodbridge School to help close yet another gaping budget shortfall.

While no decision has been made, officials say the school closure is being eyed as part of a larger package of budget cuts aimed at reducing a projected $3.4 million budget hole.

“We wouldn’t even be entertaining this idea if it wasn’t for the dire straits,” Superintendent Rich Pierucci said. “Closing the school is very low on the interest level of the district.”

Woodbridge, built in the 1930s, is Roseville’s oldest continuously operating school. It serves about 300 students in grades kindergarten through third. Closing it would save about $300,000, according to district projections.

That possibility irks many in the school’s community.

“I really strongly think that the school should remain a part of our city,” said Ali Quile, who has a second-grader at the school. “It’s part of our history and the oldest school in Roseville.”

Naomi Foss attended the school from 1978 to 1982. She now has five children, all of whom would attend Woodbridge if it were to remain open. Her daughter, who has been told of the possibility, cried at the possibility of not seeing her teacher again, she said.

“Woodbridge has had an impact on so many students,” she said. “I run into people today who say, ‘I was a Woodchuck.’”

Officials say the school was eyed for possible closure because its relatively small population could be absorbed by other area schools – particularly Kaseberg and Spanger – without too much work. The closure would come for the 2010-2011 school year, officials said.

But it’s hard to say whether the school closure will ultimately be recommended to the school board because the district’s budget is so fluid, Pierucci said, and depends on the state’s notoriously shifting budget process.

He added that closing Woodbridge is just part of a possible budget-cutting plan. Other possibilities include adding more furlough days, increasing class sizes, and cutting administration and classified staff.

But even those ideas only add up to roughly $3 million, meaning the district would have to find $400,000 in further savings should the estimates hold.

“There isn’t anything on the list that isn’t important,” Pierucci said.

The reason possible cuts are so draconian is that the district has already slashed costs, Pierucci said. In 2009-2010, the district approved about $7 million in budget “adjustments,” including cuts to staffing and programs.

Pierucci said staff was hopeful the district’s budget picture would brighten.

“If our target comes in significantly less, then this option has the potential of falling off the plate,” he said.

The issue is next expected to be discussed at a Board of Trustees meeting on Dec. 10, when officials will present a revised budget projection. The meeting takes place at 6 p.m. at 1050 Main St.