JACKSON (AP) — Schools, community colleges and universities could be among the first programs to lose money if state budget cuts are necessary, Gov. Haley Barbour said this week.

That would be a dramatic change from last year, when public schools were spared in the first of two rounds of budget reductions.

Barbour said he could start ordering cuts from the $6 billion budget in the next few weeks if tax collections fall significantly short in August, as they did in July.

‘‘A number of agencies are in the budget this year for 6 (or) 7 percent below what they got two years ago,’’ Barbour told reporters Thursday at the Governor’s Mansion. ‘‘Probably, we will take the people who haven’t already seen that sort of reduction as the earliest to have to make some savings.’’

Education received record funding this year because of millions of dollars from the federal stimulus package.

Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds said Friday that leaders at the eight universities were told weeks ago to look for ways to handle a possible budget reduction of up to 5 percent.

‘‘We are trying to figure out how we make budget cuts without losing people,’’ Bounds said. ‘‘We also want to make certain we protect the academic integrity of our programs.’’

Mississippi’s revenues in July fell nearly 11.3 percent short of what experts had predicted. That was a shortage of $26.2 million for the first month of the state fiscal year.

The year-to-year comparisons looked even worse. State tax collections in July 2009 fell $56 million below where they were in July 2008. That was nearly a 22 percent decrease.

The state’s August tax collection figures could be available next week.

Nancy Loome, executive director of a public education advocacy group called The Parents Campaign, said Friday that cutting schools’ spending could hurt the state’s economic prospects.

‘‘We just have to be sure we didn’t take an overly simplistic view of solving a short-term budget problem that creates a long-term problem from which it will take us decades to recover,’’ Loome said.

Barbour said it’s easier for state agencies to handle budget cuts early in the fiscal year, which runs from July 1 through June 30. He said all parts of state government could face reductions.

‘‘If you cut 5 percent in the middle of December, that means they have to save 10 percent the second half of the year because they’ve already gone through the first half,’’ Barbour said. ‘‘So, particularly for education, it’s critical if we’re going to make cuts to make them early so that they have some time to make them in the least harmful way.’’