ATLANTA -- With multiple Georgia school districts projecting budget shortfalls of more than $100 million, CBS Atlanta News went to state lawmakers to find out how they would help.

As a member of the Education and Youth committee, Sen. Vincent Fort said cuts by Republican lawmakers to education in years past are to blame for the current troubles.

“We’re in a bad situation now because we didn’t do the things we should’ve done,” said Vincent. “I agree with those parents that say cutting education should be a last resort. I’ve said before I would scrape the gold off the dome before cutting education, but this administration thinks otherwise.”

Fort’s Republican counterpart on the education committee, Sen. Jim Butterworth, R-District 50, said Democratic lawmakers’ solution to help schools by increasing taxes is not a good option. He told CBS Atlanta News there are other fixes to consider first.

“There are 181 schools systems in the state of Georgia. I will tell you, the total money in reserve is $1.2 billion. It may be time for that money to be looked at,” said Butterworth. “The money is for emergency use, and I think this might be one of those times.”

Although they disagree on the solution, both lawmakers said Georgia students’ education must be a priority.

DeKalb County Schools said they are planning for a $115 million budget shortfall, Fulton County schools are $120 million in the hole, and Cobb County announced Wednesday they would have at least a $100 million shortfall. School officials expect all of those shortfalls to go up even higher.

School officials said they likely won't know how lawmakers plan to help them out until the state's 2011 budget is released. That could be months away.