Last week, the governor said he will consider shortening the school year by seven days, laying off up to 5,000 state employees and taking money from local governments, which likely would translate into cuts to police and firefighting services.
Tens of thousands of teachers also face the prospect of layoffs.
An angry electorate soundly defeated a slate of special election budget measures Tuesday, a decision that left Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers holding virtually nothing but a scalpel to deal with California's $21.3 billion shortfall.
They asked California voters consider a complex mix of spending reforms, higher taxes, borrowing and funding shifts.
Most of the measures were losing by wide margins, with at least 60 percent of voters rejecting them, according to partial returns.
Voters approved just one of the six propositions, a measure prohibiting pay raises for lawmakers and other state elected officials during deficit years.
