When students graduate from schools in Butte and Glenn counties over the next two years, teachers, courses and athletic programs may be leaving with them.

The Durham and Willows unified school districts notified the state they may not be able to meet their financial obligations over the next two years, according to a press release from the California Department of Education.

The announcement comes on the heels of a six-teacher layoff across three schools in the Willows Unified School district, said Willows Unified Superintendent Mort Geivett.

The district saved about $120,000 by laying off two temporary teachers, in addition to money saved by cutting advanced classes and removing district funding from the Willows High School golf team, Geivett said.

But those cuts do not guarantee Willows Unified School District financial security, he said.

“You almost have to hope for the best and plan for the worst,” Geivett said.

Since district funding for his team was cut in the 2007-08 school year, volunteer Willows High School golf coach Jake Hutson has been holding car washes and putting fundraisers to keep the team running, he said.

Kevin Bultema, assistant superintendent of business at the Butte County Office of Education, said both districts are operating from the 2008-09 state budget, which cut primary education 20 percent from 2007.

If taxes are not increased in the November election, it’s likely that districts will lose $441 for every student in

attendance.

“That is devastating, because we’re already going into the fifth year of receiving 80 cents on the dollar,” Bultema said.

Durham Unified School District was the only district in Butte County to declare financial jeopardy, and that’s because its budget is based on taxes not increasing in November — a worst-case scenario, Bultema said.

Working out a budget based on a future election is as difficult as “running a business where you don’t know how much revenue you’re going to have,” he said.

Two ballot initiatives with money for California schools have received enough signatures to appear on November’s ballot, Bultema said.

The Gov. Brown-sponsored tax initiative calls for an income tax increase of one-fourth of a percent, and a 1 to 3 percent additional tax on income greater than $250,000.

An initiative sponsored by the California Parent Teacher’s Association proposes an additional progressive tax on income over $7,316, but no new sales tax.

Superintendent Geivett hopes one or both of the initiatives will pass in November, he said.

“Without one of these initiatives passing, education is going to be in dire straights, more dire then we are in now.”