The belt tightens

This from the Courier-Journal:

There was quite a dustup over the announcement that security would be cut at state government's Jefferson County human services offices, but the idea was dropped before the dust had time to settle.

The temptation is to say all's well that ends well and move on, but Kentucky can't move on. The state is trapped in a revenue shortage made worse by the General Assembly's refusal to expand gaming or to raise cigarette taxes.

Just consider this headline: "Almost 1,000 school jobs cut -- State's districts have dim outlook."It's just the latest in a series of alarms that have been sounded since the miserable 2008 legislative session came to a not-so-merciful close, but it may be the most depressing.

What Senate President David Williams dismisses as a little "belt-tightening" has resulted in personnel and program cuts at state mental health agencies, in prosecutors' and public defenders' offices -- in truth, across state government. Public colleges and universities have tried to make up some of the difference by imposing tax increase -- big new tuition hikes -- on students and their families.

But perhaps the most sickening upshot of the legislature's cowardice and calculation is the damage done in school district after school district, with worse to come next year. A new survey by the Kentucky School Boards Association in 138 of the state's 174 districts found that 89 have cut about 450 certified positions and 520 classified jobs.

The Kentucky Department of Education was forced to cut $43 million for professional development and after-school services, not to mention money for textbooks, and local districts were forced to make up the difference. Some have slashed payrolls. Others have increased class sizes or eliminated classes.

Teachers and other state workers got 1 percent raises, which, given inflation, amounts to cutting their salary.

All of this leaves Kentucky's historic effort at education reform in a miasma of shortage and short tempers.

So House budget chairman Harry Moberly, D-Richmond was right when he warned, in that emotional final debate over the spending bill, "This is a bad budget for education and human services…really bad." He was right to vote against it.

The public has good reason to remember all of this, when it goes into the voting booth.