[Bleep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')url=http://www.lovelandfyi.com/Top-Story.asp?ID=4365]School funds? Go fish (link)[/url]

Public-school classes will get bigger, and some teachers likely will lose their jobs next school year because of a projected $3.6 million shortfall in the Thompson School District’s budget, according to school officials.

...

Examples of extra expenses anticipated for next year’s school district budget:

...

• $550,000 in increased costs for utilities.

• $275,000 in increased costs for fuel.

[Leanan]

This has been brutal, even with the mild winter. Some communities are being forced to raise taxes. Others are cutting sports and field trips. One school in Iowa is buying natural gas futures contracts. A district in Oregon went to a four-day school week (the parents were not pleased). Many are cutting bus routes (usually meaning the parents end up driving the kids to school).

A four-day week might be the most palatable way to save energy, if everyone did it. The parents hate having to find a babysitter for the fifth day, but if they were off work, too, they probably wouldn't mind. If we worked 10 hours a day, we could get a 40-hour week in in four days.