Things are bad all over -- almost

It's no consolation, as Florida spirals down into a bigger and bigger budget mess, but schools in other states are suffering too. As this state-by-state roundup from the 16-member Southern Regional Education Board shows:

• In Georgia, the legislature will take up amendments during the next session that may make permanent 6 percent cuts that were ordered after the fiscal year began.
• In Tennessee, the governor originally asked state agencies to plan for a 3 percent cut this fiscal year, but in November he upped that to 10 percent.
• In South Carolina, the state cut the education department 16 percent this year. Now DOE employees reportedly will be required to take five days of unpaid leave.

It's not gloomy for everybody, though.

West Virginia's K-12 budget went up 2.2 percent this year, and no cuts are projected thanks in part to higher energy prices that have stimulated coal mining:

"The budget is in balance," the report says, "and higher than estimated revenue collections (one-time increases) have been used for one-time purposes such as retiring debt, as opposed to funding ongoing expenditures that might create a structural deficit in the future."

- Ron Matus, state education reporter