Ask officials at the state Department of Education if this is a bad economic year for South Carolina schools and they laugh.

"Public schools haven't seen a year this bad maybe in generations," Education Department Spokesman Jim Foster said Friday. "A series of five mid-year budget cuts, coupled with a (state House of Representatives) budget that lowers the per-pupil funding even more has amounted to a series of body blows that has schools reeling."

State lawmakers are expected to approve a budget that gives school districts $1,643 for each student enrolled, Foster said, a number $558 short of the $2,201 per student that state law says S.C. schools should receive next year.

That loss of state dollars has left most of the state's school districts looking to local taxpayers to make up the shortfall, he said.

And while some local governments are making up the difference, most school districts are being forced to cut teachers, scrap programs or eliminate support staff. Some districts have even begun charging fees to students who wish to participate in after-school activities.

And some poorer, rural districts aren't finding the help they need no matter where they look.

In Beaufort County, how much local schools will get next year remains undecided.

The Beaufort County Council will consider the school district's $127.2 million budget request -- a 6.4 percent increase from this year's $119.6 million budget -- for the first time at a meeting Monday. The 11-member council must approve the district's budget each year.

The $127.2 million spending plan is what Beaufort County Board of Education members say they need to improve local schools. But the board will also present council members with a $124.5 million budget, which sticks to increases based only on inflation and student growth, a formula the council has asked board members to follow because of tight economic times.

Board members say the lower figure could mean larger class sizes, fewer classroom programs, little or no teacher and staff pay raises and no new help for students who speak English as a second language.

"I think ($127.2 million) is reasonable, considering the constant influx of students that we have, and now how many children we have that don't speak English," said Beaufort and Port Royal board representative Dale Friedman. "I think we've made great strides in the last few years and we need to keep moving forward. In order to do that we have to have some new programs."

Yet for some state school districts, the idea of implementing new programs next year is laughable.

"School districts across the state are suffering financially this year," said Michelle Foster, spokeswoman for District 5, which serves Lexington and Richland Counties near Columbia.

She said District 5 will have a $98.7 million budget next year, $1.6 million less than the $100.3 million the district had this year.

Lexington and Richland county schools will charge students a $10 fee to participate in after-school clubs, band or chorus, Michelle Foster said. And driver's education courses, once free, now will cost students $200.

Class sizes will go up by one student per class because 30 teaching posts will be unfilled, she said, and the district expects about 150 more students will join its 15,000 student population.

Beaufort County schools are expecting about another 500 students next year, said district spokesman John Williams, increasing the district's student population to around 18,000.

Along the Grand Strand, coastal Horry County, the third largest district in the state, is asking for a 3 percent increase in their budget, from $176.2 million this year to $181.6 million next year, said spokeswoman Teal Britton.

Although they increased taxes, the Horry County district already cut $5 million from its budget, Britton said. Money needed to serve about 650 new students joining the district's 30,200 student population, she said.

State cuts this year already forced Horry officials to cut teaching and administrative jobs, and next year's budget eliminates more district office staff and assistant principal posts. Athletic and technology programs also hit the chopping block.

Without the tax increase, 100 teaching jobs would have had to go, Britton said.

"We've gone through, just as most school districts in the state, and made reductions where and when possible," she said. "We weren't able to balance the budget this year without asking for a (tax) increase."

Horry County has nearly depleted its $12 million reserve, Britton said.

Nearby Charleston County School District, the second largest in the state, has used its entire savings because of the mid-year budget cuts, said district spokesman Rod Spaulding.

The Beaufort County School District has used $1.6 million of its $9 million reserve fund this year, and expects to do the same next year, district officials have said.

Charleston County district officials are asking their board, which sets its own tax rate, to approve a $21 million increase for next year, raising the schools budget from $242.7 million this year to $263.7 million next year.

The Charleston County district is expecting about 2,000 new students to add to its current 43,000, and wanted to increase the budget to try to restore some of the reserve fund, Spaulding said. Board members asked the district to start from scratch when they planned the budget, but not to cut classroom programs, he said, which were hurt by this year's mid-year cuts. That meant an inevitable tax increase.

"We were pretty well backed into a corner at reducing the budget," Spaulding said. Despite the proposed tax hike, several district office posts, including an assistant superintendent position, have been cut, he added, but class sizes will not be increased under the current plan.

Greenville County schools, the state's largest school district, is also cutting administrators. Greenville Superintendent Bill Harner said this week he is cutting 40 district office posts, saving $2.3 million. Travel and supply budgets were cut by about the same amount.

Last week, Harner said he will eliminate five of the Greenville district's 10 assistant superintendents, saving at least $400,000. On top of that, the district office will only open four days a week during the summer, saving money in utility bills. The cuts are an attempt to make up for an expected $28 million shortfall in state funds.

At least one Beaufort County school board member thinks asking for a 6.4 percent budget increase next year is too much.

Dave Arnold, the board's Lady's Island representative, was the only member to vote against the budget this week.

"I thought it was a bad time to ask for an increase," Arnold said Friday. "I thought there was still ways we had not cutÉ. It would be very hard-pressed for me (if I were a) councilman to raise taxes in this economic climate."