He adds that each of the schools in the county identified what they can do without to help save some additional funds.

Miller says the school system was able to come up with enough for this budget cut, but he&squo;s concerned about the possibility of the state returning for more, perhaps in the spring.

&dquo;I don&squo;t know what we would do if they cut again say in February or March. There&squo;s nothing to cut then,&dquo; he says.

The North Carolina state government is currently asking school districts to return a total of about $58 million to help offset a reduction in state revenue due to the current recession.

State funds for local schools&bsp; help pay for teacher salaries, textbooks and instructional needs. Districts were given the flexibility to decide where to make cuts.

Gov. Mike Easley&squo;s budget office is working on a plan to find a total of about $1.2 billion in departments throughout the state government to ease the shortfall. Easley initially exempted the public school system from making major cuts, but the education department has said it can find $117 million.

Polk Supt. Miller says a lot of state agencies, such as the Department of Transportation, are suffering worse budget cuts than local schools.