The ''big think'' has begun on the Taieri after the Ministry of Education cut funding to more than half the schools in the area by increasing their decile ratings.
Now, nine of the Taieri's 16 school boards of trustees and principals are working out how to run their schools on less without compromising the quality of education.
Based on present rolls, funding at the nine schools with increased deciles is expected to fall by more than $70,000 a year.
The worst-affected school on the Taieri was Taieri College, whose decile rating went from 6 to 7 - a funding cut of about $22,000 a year.
In a school newsletter, principal David Hunter told parents it was ''very frustrating''.
He said decile ratings were a mechanism the Government used to formulate the operations grant it gave schools.
''In short, it is how much money we are given to run our school.
''The ramifications of this [our decile increase] mean that we will be given significantly less funds to live on next year. It has forced us to further examine our budgeting for next year.''
Silverstream School expected to lose more than $15,000, after its decile moved from 4 to 6.
Principal and Otago Primary Principals' Association chairwoman Elizabeth Cleverley said it was concerning, but, like the other schools affected, she would need to accept it.
''None of us like losing money because we tend to use all that we get. We are going to have to do some creative thinking.''
Green Island School principal Steve Hayward said his school's decile had changed from 4 to 6, which meant about $10,000 a year less.
Big Rock School principal David Grant said his decile was altered significantly - from 5 to 8 - but because the roll was smaller, funding fell by $4500 a year.
Other schools on the Taieri were expected to lose between $750 and $6200 a year.
Taieri schools are among 145 schools Otago-wide. Of those, the decile ratings of 69 remained the same, 46 went up and 30 went down.
Ministry of Education pupil achievement deputy secretary Graham Stoop said there were several reasons a school's position in the decile ratings might change.
It might be a change in the mixture of pupils attending a school; a change in circumstances of the community children came from; a change in the school community's position in relation to all other schools in New Zealand; or a combination, he said.
Miss Cleverley said the deciles of many Taieri schools had changed because there had been a lot of housing development in the area, particularly in Mosgiel, which might have drawn a large number of more affluent residents to the community.
Dr Stoop said schools that had an increase in decile would have an 18-month transition period before the changes took full effect.
Education Minister Hekia Parata said $8.6 million had been provided to help schools through the funding changes.
