For librarian Arla Jones, the cut has made a tangible impact.

   Typically, the library’s budget runs at $4,000, the majority of which the library spends before the school year even begins, purchasing new books and replacing lost or stolen items. This year Jones and her fellow librarians purchased books in July; only to find out shortly thereafter their budget had been halved.

   The result:

   “We’re over budget by $900,” Jones said. “I would definitely have spend that money a lot differently if I’d know we only had $2,000 to work with, but there was just no way of knowing.”

   The July order was in no way extravagant for the library’s standards. In fact the 136 books did not even fill up a book cart. Over the past 10 years the library’s budget has declined from about $25 per student in 2000 to $7 per student this year.

   “The money just doesn’t go very far,” Jones said. “I feel like a librarian without books.”

   The librarians are not the only ones who have had to tighten their belts; Shannon Wilson’s foods classes are also feeling the effects of the budget crunch.

   “For a class that’s supposed to be cooking, we’re not going to be doing a whole lot of cooking,” Wilson said. “I never expected them to cut the foods budget because that changes the class to me.”

   Wilson’s students, who in the past conducted two or three cooking labs a week, will be doing a lot more watching this year. With her supply budget restricted, Wilson will be forced to do more demonstrations and fewer labs. When the students do get hands-on experience, she will have to be much more careful about rationing her limited ingredients.

   “I’m down to the last chocolate chip in a lot of cases,” Wilson said.

   The ultimate effect of the budget cut falls squarely on the shoulders of the students.

   “It’s unfortunate,” Wilson said. “The bottom line is it’s hard for the kids.”

   Photography teacher Angelia Perkins also has witnessed a change to her classroom.

   “Photography is an expensive class to begin with, and we don’t have a lot of extras to start with, so when you cut by 50 percent, you immediately cut curriculum,” Perkins said. “It’s hard for me to watch students who are not able to do as much because we don’t have the supplies.”

   While Lawrence High is certainly hurting, several departments have managed to protect their students from the financial reality. Wings such as the math, English, and science departments have weathered the storm with relative ease. The science department has protected its chemistry and biology budgets and the English and math programs have not yet suffered the effects of the budget cuts.

   However as science department chair Alan Gleue noted, that may not be the case for much longer.

   “It’s one thing to be able to absorb one year of cuts,” Gleue said. “But we need to keep up with purchasing our technology because things break or maybe some new technology will come out, and if we can’t buy that stuff, we may fall behind other schools and districts.”

   When the financial nightmare will end, no one is certain. The situation hinges on whether or not the state makes a further cut in the educational budget. If the governor is forced to cut the school districts again, the effect will be more of the same.

   “If we have to do another round of cuts, we’ll have to cut teachers,” Superintendent Rick Doll said. “And that is devastating to the classroom experience.”

   However, if the state does manage to balance its budget before the year is out, the opposite might be true.

   “The bottom line is, if nothing changes, the short term could be very painful,” Principal Matt Brungardt said. “But looking to the long term, if they do release the funds, we can basically buy next year’s supplies with this year’s money.”

   Such a scenario is far from assured, but the district and its staff can keep their fingers crossed.

   As for the Superintendent:

   “I’m cautiously optimistic,” Doll said.