The Education Authority (EA) was asked to model cuts of up to 10% of its 2023/24 budget.
BBC News NI understands the Department of Education has asked the agency to assess the potential impact of 3%, 5% and 10% cuts.
The Education Authority is responsible for spending the majority of the £2.5 billion education budget.
Cuts of up to 10% could mean hundreds of millions of pounds worth of savings to be found.
The Board of Education is responsible for funding schools, staff, transportation, food, maintenance and support for children with special educational needs and youth welfare.
However, BBC News NI understands that any current models being carried out by the Authority are for information only and no decisions have been made.
In a statement, the agency said it was “extremely concerned by the mounting, unprecedented pressures education is facing.”
Northern Ireland Office Minister Steve Baker recently warned that Stormont’s budget for next year will be very difficult.
Sir David Sterling, a former head of Northern Ireland’s civil service, told BBC Northern Ireland’s The View program that Stormont’s departments could face financial pressures and cuts of up to £1bn over the next financial year.
The Board of Education has already said it cannot deliver so-called “devastating” savings of around £110m in the current financial year without “highly unacceptable and adverse risks” to children and young people.
Mervyn Storey of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), who sits on the education authority’s board, warned the shortfall “could be in excess of £500m” by April.
Speaking to The View, the former finance minister said 80% of the education budget is spent on staff.
He said, “There is clearly burnout among our teachers who are feeling the pressure to handle an impossible situation in terms of their budget.”
In his November 2022 budget, Northern Ireland Minister Chris Heaton-Harris warned the Department of Education against significantly cutting its “current spending curve”.
But the agency was also asked to look at its budget for 2023/24.
In a statement to BBC News NI, the chief executive of the education authority, Sara Long, said: “Financial conditions are expected to be significantly more difficult in 2023-24.
“This will have potentially detrimental and profound impacts such as daily school operations, special educational needs support, transportation and meals, and ultimately the educational experience and outcomes of our children and young people.
“We are currently evaluating potential areas where spending could be reduced to address the projected significant funding gap in 2023-24 in conjunction with the Department of Education and the EA Board.”
Ms Long added that any proposals to significantly reduce spending would have “very serious and unacceptable consequences for the educational outcomes of our children and young people”.
The Board of Education’s chief executive, Barry Mulholland, also said there had been “chronic underinvestment in education” over the past 10 years.
Northern Ireland spends less on each pupil’s education than any other part of the UK, according to a previous analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
The Department of Education said it was considering various planning scenarios “in anticipation of what is likely to be a very challenging fiscal settlement for 2023-24,” including some that would require spending cuts in some areas.
“This is a normal part of the department’s financial planning at this time of the year,” the department said.
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