No more paper, no more books: Schools finding creative ways to save money during recession

Over the past year the economic downturn has created plenty of hardships for our schools. With increased costs, reduced funding from the government and a lack of public support for levies; schools are working to find new ways to meet budgets without sacrificing their quality of education.

So far we've already seen teachers forced to sell ad space on tests to make up for a lack of school supplies, school districts cut the number of standardized tests they give and others cranked down the thermostats last fall. Some school systems have even gone as far as cutting off kids with overdue lunch balances and asking parents to pitch in with cash to meet needs.