As students around the country begin the 2011-2012 school year, many of them will be returning to districts that have been forced to restructure their operations in the face of budget cuts. Leaders of those school systems have sought to avoid cuts that they believe would weaken instruction. But they also believe the reductions will put a strain on schools and the people who work in them, and they worry that the pain will last for several years, given shaky economic conditions and the improbability of increases in state aid. The recent, severe recession, which began in late 2007 and officially ended in 2009, robbed states of significant revenues. While state coffers have recovered somewhat recently, many budget analysts believe it could be a few years before revenues return to prerecession levels. At least 23 states have approved cuts to K-12 programs in fiscal 2012, which in most states began in July. The evaporation of money from the economic stimulus--officially known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009--will add to the state and local burden. States are expected to have spent the majority of their education stimulus money by next month. Overall, the federal stimulus aid provided about $100 billion to states and schools for education. Schools have also been helped by a separate $10 billion pool of emergency aid approved by Congress last year, the Education Jobs Fund, which was designed to save jobs.