SEATTLE -- Confused parents, both angry and leery of the superintendent's budget-friendly plan to close schools and slash programs, packed Wednesday's school board meeting in an attempt to save their schools.

Dazanne Porter worries her children and grandchildren won't get a fair education after Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson recommended six school buildings and five programs for the chopping block in order to balance a $24-million funding gap.

Under the preliminary plan, nine programs would relocate from one building to another. Lowell APP would relocate to Hawthorne and Thurgood Marshall, NOVA and SBOC to Meany and Pathfinder K-8 to Arbor Heights. Summit K-12 would move to Rainier Beach, Thornton Creek to Addams, TT Minor K-3 Montessori to Leschi, Thurgood Marshall EBOC to Bailey Gatzert and Van Asselt to AAA.

A new K-5 program would open at Decatur, and Thornton Creek K-5 would expand to K-8.

Five programs would be discontinued and their students reassigned to new schools beginning in fall 2009. Those programs are the African American Academy, AS #1, Arbor Heights, Meany and TT Minor.

"When that decision was made the board decided my babies were not worthy," Porter said.

Discontent parents call the recommendations a knee-jerk plan with which the needs of students won't be met and the money saved won't outweigh damage done to the kids.

The sheer number of parents present at the meeting spoke volumes. And they came prepared with signs, one of which read "smaller schools, not fewer schools."

"I'm not sure exactly what they think they're saving money doing. So I would like them to explain how they're going to save money," said parent Darrel Riley.

The superintendent cited the budget, as well as the district's excess capacity, general economic challenges and a geographic imbalance between school capacity and where school-age children live as the reasons behind her recommendations. Still, some parents don't buy it. Sundquist said the the numbers do add up, that the cuts are not ideal but necessary.

"The cost savings are significant and they are worth going through closures despite pain in our community," he said. "The state is facing a tremendous financial shortfall now as a byproduct of all the economic turbulence we've all been reading about."

The recommendations will be considered during the months of December and January.

The superintendent will release her final recommendations, which will be based on public input and additional analysis, on Jan. 6. The School Board is expected to vote on Jan. 29.