It is a drop in the bucket in the current statewide budget crisis, but the California Supreme Court delivered yet more bad news Thursday to counties and schools trying to save a few dollars.

In a case originally triggered by Santa Clara County and two California school districts, the Supreme Court rejected bids by local governments to get reimbursed by the state for the cost of meeting notices they must send out for certain programs -- programs the state requires them to provide.

``It's small,'' Santa Clara County Counsel Ann Ravel said of the amounts at stake, perhaps $100 per meeting. ``But beyond this, the problem is that there are so many things we are mandated to do by legislation.''

Under state law, California must reimburse local governments for new programs or increases in the level of service ordered by the state. Santa Clara County and schools in San Diego and Kern County argued several years ago that the law should apply to the cost of preparing meeting agendas for school councils that administer various state-mandated programs.

The meeting agendas are required as part of the state's open meeting law.

The state Supreme Court unanimously disagreed with local governments, saying the law didn't intend to cover those costs and that eight of the nine programs at issue were voluntary, rather than mandatory. The multimillion-dollar programs include projects to help dropouts, parent education and improvements in Indian education.

The justices also noted that the ``modest'' cost of the agendas could easily come from the funding for the actual programs. California schools argued in court briefs that the cost of paying for the meeting agendas could result in cuts to other education programs, but the Supreme Court said it was ``skeptical of the assertions.''