CHARLOTTE – This week kicks off the start of the magnet lottery for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, a process district leaders say, will be complicated.

In addition to the program closures and consolidations already in place, Superintendent Dr. Peter Gorman says more changes could be on the way as the school board continues to slash $100 million from the budget.

"Some of those decisions we're going to ask them to make could affect programs and offerings, so we're asking families to work with us on this,” said Gorman during his weekly media briefing Wednesday.

The changes could effect individual programs, transportation, or bell schedules, but Gorman says the board will try to make those decisions ahead of the Feb. 7 application deadline.

Parents already saw an example of this at the beginning of the school year when the district implemented shuttle stops for all full magnet programs, putting a number of families in a difficult situation.

At this time, the board is already considering cutting transportation to all magnet schools for the 2011-2012 school year.

"We'll try to make the budget decisions in a timely manor ahead of time so you're not caught off guard, but go into it looking at multiple, possible options," added Gorman.

For more information about the various magnet programs, the district-wide magnet fair is Saturday, Jan. 8 at Phillip O. Berry Academy. It runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.