By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – Alabama's local school board members and superintendents met in Montgomery to hear how bad state education officials think next year's budget crisis will be. State schools Superintendent Ed Richardson and members of his staff addressed a meeting of the Alabama Association of School Boards over the weekend. Richardson says the education system will have to cut 140 million to 190 million dollars from next year's education budget. He also says for some school systems, options may include reducing the school day to six hours, eliminating or reducing school bus transportation, and offering only required courses. That means programs such as band, chorus and athletics could be dropped. The grim outlook was similar to the one Richardson gave Friday to the Governor's Commission on Education Spending.