SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco teachers and school district officials planned a rally on Tuesday outside a state building in protest of proposed cuts by the governor's office that they say could result in hundreds of teachers losing their jobs next year.

According to the San Francisco Unified School District, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed $4.8 billion in statewide education cuts that would slash $40 million from San Francisco public schools.

"Today we're sending a message to the governor that we're not going to take these cuts," said Matthew Hardy, spokesman for the United Teachers of San Francisco, a union representing about 3,800 teachers.

In anticipation of the cuts, school district officials in February proposed the elimination of 535 full-time positions, including teachers and administrators.

"The district in some sense has its hands tied," Hardy acknowledged. "Where are you going to get $40 million?"

In addition to the possible layoffs, Hardy argues the cuts would also increase class sizes and eliminate essential school programs.

"This is only the beginning of the misery that will potentially be caused by these cuts," said Hardy.

Teachers will be joined this afternoon by parent groups, youth advocates, the superintendent of schools and Mayor Gavin Newsom outside the state Public Utilities Commission to call on the governor to step back from his proposed education cutbacks.

"The focus is really to our elected officials in Sacramento, that they need to balance the budget without harming children," said school district spokeswoman Gentle Blythe.

According to Blythe, California already ranks 45th in the nation in education spending, allocating about $1,900 less per student than the national average.

The layoffs of teachers would go into effect for the next school year, according to Blythe.

"We do hope that we can rescind all of those layoffs," she added.

California Secretary of Education David Long said the governor's office understands tha the cuts are difficult but they are working hard to resolve the problem.

“Governor Schwarzenegger knows that education tops Californians’ priorities and that these necessary budget cuts are difficult – that’s why the governor is doing the one thing that will help: working hard to reform our state budget process once and for all so school districts are never again faced with these kinds of difficult cuts,” Long said.