WASHINGTON (AP) -- The school budget was so tight in Jacksonville, Florida, last year that they held a paper drive -- a toilet paper drive.

Hard times and higher fuel prices are following kids back to school again this year. Children will walk farther to the bus stop, pay more in the cafeteria and study from old textbooks.

Parents who are feeling the pinch are shopping for bargains on back-to-school clothes, or they're making their kids wear the same clothes as last year.

Fifteen districts are going to four-day weeks and dozens of others are considering the idea.

In many places, field trips are being cut back or eliminated.

Montgomery County, Maryland, is cutting funds for its award-winning math team. The district will still pay the coach's stipend, but parents will have to help out.