KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- School board members spent Tuesday evening looking for ways to cut more than $20 million from the district's budget.

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KMBC's Kris Ketz reported that the board has made it clear it does not want to close schools, which is why balancing the budget means cutting jobs.

The district's administration is still trying to come up with scenarios to save millions. Ketz said that frustration ran high near the end of the meeting.

The district's man in charge said it would have been easy if the board decided to cut a certain amount from each department.

"Now it seems as if we're being told that is what you should have done," superintendent Dr. Bernard Taylor Jr. said.

"Nobody has said that," board member Joel Pelofsky responded.

"Mr. Pelofsky, it's an interpretation. I mean, I'm sorry, but you're wrong," Taylor said.

Taylor said the district needs to save between $20 million to $22 million from next fiscal year's budget. The latest budget cutting scenarios now call for saving between $15 million and almost $23 million, Ketz reported.

One scenario includes cutting 1 percent raises for all employees. Another scenario includes cutting 3 percent bonuses for the district's lowest paid employees. But all scenarios call for eliminating between 153 to 173 teaching positions based on attrition.

Ketz reported that one school board member said one of the most frustrating things in the process is that the numbers from the administration keep changing. The budget has to be ready in time for the next fiscal year, which begins in July.