Tens of thousands of Bay Area students are returning to classrooms this week facing what educators say is the bleakest financial outlook in years.

Though the state's $2.3 billion cut to education wasn't as bad as many had feared, it has left public school districts with big budget holes to close.

"This is my 35th year as an educator, and there's never enough," said San Francisco Superintendent Arlene Ackerman as she toured various schools Monday to chat with teachers and kids. "But this is the worst I've seen it."

Ackerman lost $35 million from last year's $683 million budget, resulting in layoffs of 72 teachers. The good news was that of 272 teachers in the district who received pink slips in the spring, 200 were hired back thanks to retirements and attrition. The central office budget was cut by $15 million, and individual schools were asked to trim their budgets by 10 to 20 percent.

San Francisco also faced continued controversy over its diversity index, an enrollment integration process by which some kids are assigned to schools across the city from their homes. Several groups of Chinese American families living in the Richmond and Sunset districts have formed to fight the school district, saying their children should attend Lincoln or Washington high schools.

One group -- the Parents for Neighborhood Schools Association -- protested Monday morning in front of the district office, saying they would keep their children out of classes until they were assigned to schools in their neighborhoods.

"We're concerned about their safety and their long commute," said the group's president, Josephine Lam, whose ninth-grade daughter, Belinda, was assigned to Balboa High.

BUDGET CUTS EVERYWHERE
But around the Bay Area, the common problem facing public school educators was how to get by with less money.

Berkeley Unified -- which will open its doors Wednesday -- cut $8 million from its $100 million budget, mostly through reductions in music classes and libraries and increases in class sizes.

Union School District, which straddles San Jose and Los Gatos, also faced substantial funding reductions. At Union Middle School in San Jose, Kevin Thompson spent Monday drilling his 40 eighth-grade students in math -- and courtesy. With the janitorial staff cut drastically, teachers and students must pitch in.

"If every one of you drop just one piece of paper on the floor every day, how many pieces of paper is that a day?" he asked them. "Forty times five. Who's going to clean them up?"

In Novato Unified, a $3 million cut spelled the loss of 62 classified employees. It could have been worse, but parents raised $460,000 to keep teachers.

"It's great, but it's a one-shot thing, so we're still having financial problems," said Perry Newman, president of the school board.

The San Rafael City school district lost 5 percent of its budget, meaning the elimination of a middle school assistant principal, one counselor in each high school and 10 teachers across the board.

Less money for San Francisco Unified means Aptos Middle School lost a librarian, a computer technician and an attendance officer, and the average classroom has 35 kids in it. There's no money for supplies, field trips, teacher conferences or even service on broken copy machines.

Dana Ward-Robinson, 13, almost lost her favorite class -- orchestra -- but sold enough candy along with her classmates to save it.

Principal Linal Ishibashi said she'd try anything from car washes to benefit concerts to telephone campaigns to raise money. The school sent a letter to all families in the spring asking for a $180 donation, but it has received responses from just 15 percent. The counseling office and art department are so broke, they're trying to raise money on their own.

"The last two years, our school has done so well with big boosts in test scores," Ishibashi said. "I'd hate to see a reverse due to the budget."

HIGH SCHOOL REDESIGN
At Mission High School, spirits were high as the school embarked on the district's first high school redesign; groups of five teachers will work with 100 students each and stick with them for two years. Still, worries about the budget persisted -- the school lost $400,000 from last year.

Olivia Inase, 17, said she was excited about starting her senior year but could tell the budget cuts would affect the school heavily, including a lack of updated computer software in the labs.

"At the end of last year, they told us not to waste anything or use extra supplies," she said. "It's unfortunate because as it is, we don't have a lot of things."

Teachers were saddened by the loss of a district program in which each received a $250 gift certificate to spend at office supply stores.

"There was a new science teacher who said, 'Oh, I need a stapler.' I said, 'Go to Office Depot!' " said Eric Lewis, a science teacher at Mission, adding that it's hard for teachers to pay for their supplies when they haven't even received their first paycheck.

Craig Newmark -- the Craig of craigslist -- said he had seen a rise in the number of new registrations on the Teacher's Wish List section of the Web site.

"The thing which I've noticed most personally are the kind of playground toys that we all used to use when we were kids -- balls and jump ropes in particular," he said. "Even if a classroom has enough paper and pens, they have nothing for the kids to use at recess."

Whether the situation will improve for teachers and students the next time around remains to be seen.

"I hope the worst is behind us," San Francisco's Ackerman said. "We just don't know."