Spending in 8 Florida districts is being monitored by the state

Eight Florida school districts -- including Miami-Dade, the state's largest -- are being monitored by the state Department of Education because their reserves are dangerously low. All the districts have less than 2.5 percent of their operating budgets set aside in rainy-day accounts. And one of the counties, the tiny Taylor school district in northwest Florida, is actually working in the red, despite laying off employees and enacting other cost-saving measures. State law says that school districts considered to be in a condition of financial emergency may face state management of their budgets. The state is hoping that monitoring now can prevent state intervention later.