It's so bad that education commissioner Eric J. Smith has told superintendents to brace for another 2 percent cut in March.

Not only that, the Orlando Sentinel reports, Smith told them to expect a 15 percent cut for 2009-10.

What does that mean for Florida districts? Things remain grim for our Tampa area districts, with Pinellas closing schools, Hillsborough urging parents to send their kids to school simply to be counted, and more.

Around the state, the news is no better. Check out some of these highlights (lowlights?) from this morning's news sources:

• Duval revises its anticipated budget shortfall downward (Florida Times-Union)
• Lee revises its anticipated deficit upward, (Naples Daily News)
• St. Lucie leaders ask the state to return student funding to the level it was before all this budget mess occurred (Port St. Lucie Tribune)
• Broward considers moving its high schools to seven-period schedules to save money (Miami Herald)
• Polk rejects employee raises (Lakeland Ledger)
• Brevard looks at cutting nearly 1,000 jobs (Florida Today)

What do you think your local school district ought to be doing to cut spending during these tenuous times?

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