SCHOOL BUDGETS TAKE A BEATING SPENDING DROPS, BUT NOT SO TAXES.(Local)

Byline: Kenneth C. Crowe II and Donna Liquori Staff writers

Smaller budgets, higher taxes and fewer teachers are what Columbia County school districts are presenting to the voters this spring.

The recession has raised district officials' already acute awareness that their residents do not want higher property taxes. And cutbacks in state aid, as a result of the state deficit and budget crisis, have put additional financial pressure on the districts in drawing up their budgets for the 1991-92 school year.

The New Lebanon Central School District felt the voters' wrath last year when they rejected a building program and the 1990-91 budget in a vote against higher taxes in this rural area along the Massachusetts border.

The …