This report examines the financial ability of West Virginia's 55 county school boards to balance their budgets for fiscal years 1990-95. Data were gathered from annual financial statements of the county boards, annual state budgets, various state reports on education, and a survey of districts that did not incur any deficits. An overview of West Virginia's financial environment examines the following critical changes: new state funding of capital outlay for building construction and maintenance, resulting in widespread school consolidation; a program to reappraise property values for tax purposes; a new teacher retirement system; changes to the state aid funding formula, reducing the numbers of school personnel; proposed constitutional amendments to impose additional property tax levies; and major legal challenges to the state's school financing system. An examination of the 6 fiscal years, 1990-95, found that student enrollment and the number of school personnel decreased each year; a total of 78 deficits were reported during the period; the number of counties reporting deficits each year increased during the period; and 22 of the 55 counties did not report any deficits. The most prevalent factors contributing to deficits were changes in the school aid formula, lack of excess levies to fund schools, sparsity of population, transportation expenditures, and other required program costs. This report includes 34 data tables detailing school district statistics, a glossary, and information on the West Virginia Education Fund. (SV)