As hundreds of signatures make their way to state lawmakers, Seminole County parents are warning others that if their children are forced to move schools, theirs could too.

At a meeting Monday evening, parents of students at Casselberry Elementary School met to plan how they can save their school, and others. Eight elementary schools are on the list and ultimately two could close due to a $20-million budget gap.

The signatures are aimed at swaying lawmakers to fund the county school district. But some say, the massive push should have come last year, before Longwood Elementary was forced to close.

Few parents know the heartbreak like Karime Lomeli.

"I was at Longwood and now I'm at Casselberry Elementary and now Casselberry Elementary is on the chopping block," siad Lomeli. "It's a headache. It really is a headache."

When Longwood closed, Lomeli chose to send her daughter to Casselberry. Now, although Casselberry is among the top three schools likely to close, she knows fighting just for her school won't solve the whole problem.

"Even if we stop Casselberry Elementary from being closed down this year, we can be on the chopping block again next year because it needs to be fixed in the long-run," said Lomeli. "We need to get the county together. It can't be school against school. It has to be a county fight."

And so, parents like Lisa Stevens are putting aside their own personal feelings to fight for the bigger picture. When one school closes, there will be a student shuffle district-wide with re-zoning. And, even if schools are saved this year, the budget problem will likely continue or get worse.

"Everybody's at risk. Our kids are going to have to go to your schools and your students are going to have to go somewhere else. Everybody is going to be affect by this," said Stevens. "On Saturday, we're going to go door-to-door with the rest of the people who come to Casselberry Elementary and we're going to get the word out and let everybody know that this is going to affect everyone."

“Whether they close two schools this year and next we're all back in the same pot of soup fighting for schools next year," said parent Heather Kirby.

Kirby and others are meeting to brainstorm and discuss what they can do to ease the district from a nearly $20 million shortfall in their operating budget, besides closing down schools.

Parents say it won't only displace children but teachers and that the vacant school buildings will bring property values down and crime up.

"So they can fix what's broken and get the quarter mil tax in," said parent Cyndi Judski.

“It will be an area for crime and vandalism and we don't want that in our area."

The Seminole County School Board is expected to make a final decision on school closures by Feb. 28.

Schools up for closure in order of most at-risk are as follows:

1. Geneva Elementary-275 First Street, Geneva
2. Keeth Elementary- 425 Tuskawilla Road, Winter Springs
3. Casselberry Elementary- 1075 Crystal Bowl Circle, Casselberry
4. Hamilton Elementary- 1501 East 8th Street, Sanford
5. Stenstrom Elementary- 1800 Alafaya Woods Boulevard, Oviedo
6. Lake Orienta Elementary- 612 Newport Avenue, Altamonte Springs
7. Wekiva Elementary- 1450 East Wekiva Trail, Longwood
8. Carilllon Elementary-3200 Lockwood Boulevard, Oviedo