With State Budget Overdue, Ky. Districts Prepare for Worst

By David J. Hoff

Kentucky educators know that their budgets for the next school year will need to be lean. They just wish they knew how lean.

The state legislature has adjourned after failing to pass its biennial budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. That means local school officials have to rely on their best estimates as they decide about staffing and programs for the 2002-03 school year.

"It's been a total nightmare for every superintendent, teacher, and anybody who works with children," said Ronald "Woodie" Cheek, the superintendent of the 2,000-student Bath County district in eastern Kentucky. "This is the most impossible year of my career, all because the legislature can't get together to work for what's...