Next time you think your school district has troubles, think about tiny Jefferson County, Florida.

Things are so bad there that the district is looking into loans to cover salaries. The Florida Board of Education has assigned an oversight board to help
Jefferson find a way back toward secure footing. Plans include layoffs,
program cuts, limiting the use of substitute teachers and more.

It wasn't so long ago that few in Jefferson had a clue how dire the situation had become. That would include Bill Brumfield, who won the superintendent race last November.

New schools were rising along with teacher salaries.

The reality sunk in when Bill Montford, chief executive of the Florida superintendents' association, approached Brumsfield at a winter conference.

"Son, y'all in trouble," Brumfield remembers Montford telling him, according to the AP. "You're broke."

Now, the superintendent deals with the finances daily. He might even have to lay off his own son, a district custodian.

"We're just hanging in there," Brumfield told the AP, "keeping the faith."

(AP photo, 2009)