With state budget deficits soaring to near record levels, school technology programs from coast to coast are being slashed as policy makers and school leaders struggle to make do with sharply limited resources.

California, Indiana, Oregon, Texas, and West Virginia are some of the many states where lawmakers and school officials have been forced to cut back or eliminate programs that supply new computers, internet access, and instructional resources to K-12 students.

To be sure, technology isn't the only budget line item being cut. Art and foreign language classes, school counselors and nurses, field trips and athletic programs, and even core subject area teachers and textbooks also are on the chopping block.

But given the tough new requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), some observers fear cuts to critical technology infrastructure programs will limit educators' ability to track and analyze student performance data, making it difficult to meet the law's intended goal.

"Our guess is it's going to be another really tough year for technology in schools," said Mike Griffith, a policy analyst with the Denver-based Education Commission of the States.

Griffith said the current budget crisis represents a unique scenario for schools, because it marks the first time in history where a severe economic downturn will directly affect the use of computers in education.

Judging from the fallout, educators will be able to tell just where society places the importance of technology in relation to teacher salaries, school supplies, textbooks, and other basic necessities, he said.

In many states, the cuts already are under way.

In Wisconsin, where budget shortfalls are expected to exceed $3.2 billion over the next two years, Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, has asked the state legislature to cut short the state's Technology for Educational Achievement (TEACH) program.

According to TEACH budget and policy analyst Mahrie Peterson, at risk is approximately $35 million per year in block grants and an additional $4 million in training resources used to boost technology infrastructures and school computer access throughout the state.

While the program originally was pegged as a five-year initiative, Peterson said those involved had hoped the success of TEACH would lead to its expansion. Given the current budget crisis, however, Doyle made it clear that the program had run its course, she said.

The initiative won't be scrapped entirely. Doyle's proposal does provide for limited funding for the Telecommunications Access portion of TEACH, which currently delivers high-speed internet and video access to more than 90 percent of the state's K-12 schools.

Doyle explained the cuts by saying the state had backed itself into a corner.

"Right now, Wisconsin faces a $452 million deficit. For the next two years, we're looking at a shortfall of $3.2 billion. It is the worst deficit that any Wisconsin governor has ever faced," he said in his State of the State address. "Other states have patched their shortfalls by tapping into rainy-day funds. Even at the height of the boom, Wisconsin was one of only five states that failed to set revenues aside for a rainy day. Now a storm has broken out, and we're left without an umbrella."