ELECTION 2004

• Bush prevails at polls • What to watch for this term ONLINE EXTRAS • Photo gallery: Celebration and concession • Tell us what you think of the election • Watch Bush's acceptance speech • Watch Kerry's concession speech • George W. Bush's victory speech • John Kerry's concession speech • County by county interactive map • Election 2004 section OHIO • Election fuss gave Blackwell a boost • Intense 2008 election forecast for Ohio • All those visits to SW Ohio paid off for the president • Voters look to the future • Ohio seeks vote answers • Academic gains helped levy win, but Cincinnati must cut • Democrats now occupy three posts in county • 5 Hamilton County school districts passed tax levies • Lakota cuts; Fairfield restores • Warren vote count was slow, others OK • Once and future prosecutor promises he'll clean up office KENTUCKY • Despite some long lines, voting was mostly smooth • Kids vote just like adults • Republicans bask in victory • Pro-Kerry homework irks Mom

The opposite will be true in Fairfield, where buses that haven't been picking up high school students will be back on the road after voters approved a levy.

Throughout Butler and Warren counties Wednesday, school officials with newly approved levies began making plans to restore programs, and others planned to make more painful cuts after tax issues failed.

Of the 10 issues on the ballot in those counties Tuesday, four were approved. Voters in Butler County's Lakota, Edgewood, Madison and Ross school districts turned down tax increases, while Talawanda and Monroe approved money issues.

In Warren County, voters in the Kings Schools approved an operating levy, but in Little Miami and Franklin, bond or operating issues failed.

"I'm disappointed," Lakota Superintendent Kathleen Klink said of the defeat. "We're faced with cutting $7 million prior to the start of the next school year."

Eliminating busing for grades 10-12 and reducing it for grades K-9 will save the district about $356,000 through the end of the school year.

Klink said she will work with administrators to reduce spending. At least 122 positions could be cut at the same time the district expects enrollment to grow by 400 to 500 students.

Those cuts will come on top of $3 million trimmed from the budget last year, and cuts totaling $4.2 million that were made after the defeat of a larger levy in March.

Klink said the district likely will put another money issue on the ballot next year.

In Fairfield, school officials have begun looking for bus drivers so that high school transportation can be restored by January. The district also will sharply reduce fees for after-school clubs and sports. Refunds will be given to those who paid the higher fees - in some cases, as much as $630.

Fairfield Board President Anne Crone sees the levy's passage as an end to a difficult year. The two most recent levy defeats caused a rift in the community.

"I want to celebrate our students and community," Crone said. "We are a strong community, a very prideful community and one that is able to heal our wounds and become whole again."

The Fairfield 4.9-mill levy will raise $6.5 million annually and increase taxes about $150 each year on a $100,000 home. The mood was somber in Ross and Madison, where voters turned down 0.5 percent income taxes. Educators now must wrestle with cutting budgets that have already been trimmed.

Both districts are looking at deficits for the 2005-06 school year after making cuts just to balance this year's books. Edgewood is faced with cutting $4 million over the next two years after the third defeat of a 6.9-mill operating levy.

At Kings, passage of a 4.9-mill operating levy ends a 15-month run of bad luck that included the cleanup of lead in the district athletic fields, and $2 million in cuts to balance the budget.

"We needed to finally get a win and we got it. The emotional uplift from that is tremendous," Superintendent Charles Mason said.

Nearby Little Miami schools are wrestling with a space crunch after a $37 million bond issue for new schools was defeated. Overcrowding and a bond issue will be discussed during a Nov. 16 school board meeting.

In Franklin, school officials are preparing to make another round of cuts to balance next year's budget after voters rejected a third operating levy this year. In the past 18 months officials have cut $1.2 million from the budget.

Superintendent Kim Gray said the district must make $300,000 in cuts to balance next year's budget and $1 million the following year. She will recommend putting another issue on the ballot in 2005.

E-mail mclark@enquirer.com and suek@infionline.net