School boards in Nova Scotia are being told to prepare for budget cuts that could total $196 million over three years. (CBC)

School boards in Nova Scotia are being told to brace for budget cuts that could amount to as much as $196 million over three years.

"I think that board members are in shock," said Trudy Thompson, who chairs the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board.

Thompson said school boards originally had received information from the Department of Education that indicated there would be budget cuts of up to five per cent over three years.

Last week, superintendents and chief financial officers from the boards met with department representatives and were given new information that suggests cuts totalling as much as 22 per cent over three years, Thompson said.

"It's huge. No increase, for a school board, is a cut," she said. "Now we're cutting 22 per cent over three years? It's just unbelievable."

Board officials were told to plan for a $196-million budget cut over the next three years, a figure that includes school boards absorbing $20 million a year in cost pressures, such as higher electricity, fuel and labour costs.

For the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board — the second-largest school board in the province — that would mean a reduction of $34 million: eight per cent in the first year and seven per cent in each of the second and third years.

"Right across the province, all school boards are facing these cuts. We're just devastated," said Thompson. "We don't understand the numbers. We need to get more details. How did they come up with these numbers? Are they real?"

'Very early stages'

Education Minister Marilyn More told CBC News that no decision has been made about cuts and that school boards are not being told to make any immediate decisions.

"We're in the very early stages of department staff meeting and working with school board staff on possible scenarios in terms of what cost savings might be possible and what the potential impacts would be," said More.

The education minister said releasing the numbers to the school boards was not a scare tactic but a response to the fact that Nova Scotia has 35,000 fewer students than a decade ago.

"This is just to make sure that we have the best information possible before those budget decisions are made," she said.