Aug. 30 Daily News editorial

Things will be different for students returning to school this year.

But maybe they won’t notice. They’ll still have a teacher in front of them and if they apply themselves they’ll be on the receiving end of a quality education. They’ll become reacquainted with old friends and meet some new kids.

But still, things will be different. Maybe there will be a few more desks in class than usual. Maybe that extra curricular activity they enjoyed so much in the past won’t be available anymore.

And quite likely, there’s more that will be missed.

The boards for area school districts struggled under the weight of a harsh fiscal reality when preparing and approving budgets for this school year. In today’s paper we lay out the aftermath of those hard decisions.

Most of these things have been publicized in various ways over the past few months. But knowing and experiencing are often two very different things.

The sharp economic downturn that began last year hit all areas of our economy hard. Governments, from city hall to the statehouse to the school on the corner were left with big holes in their budgets.

For our schools, state support was cut sharply. Some districts had other budgeting issues related to falling enrollment or other matters. School boards had no easy way out. Teachers were laid off, as were support personnel and administrators.

Popular programs were cut or eliminated. All this was happening in preparation for this school year. Meanwhile, city, county and state governments were going through similar budget dilemmas, with more immediately visible results.

Now, we’ll see what it has meant for schools.

The districts did what they did in full view of the public. They held meetings and workshops where everyone was invited to come and give their thoughts on some of the proposals.

Though many people did show up for those meetings, they still represented a small percentage of the parents with children in schools. Those who took the time to have their voices heard often argued passionately to save one program or another. They did so with varying degrees of success.

There were no easy ways out.

Though it was unfortunate and sometimes disturbing to see our local education system picked apart with a budget knife, we should thank the people who had to endure that unenviable task.

Members of school boards, with the leadership of their superintendents and other administrators, gave up hours and hours of their time during this process. They made hard decisions, knowing they faced criticism at every step. Many, no doubt, had sleepless nights as they thought about what their decisions would mean to the lives of so many.

They serve on school boards because they have an interest in public education. All, in their own and varying ways, want what’s best for the kids.

Most of them probably feel as though they couldn’t do what was best but could only do their best with a bad situation.

Now, as the school bells ring, we will count on educators to do their best, as well.