RICHMOND
Key legislators say funding for public education and health care will not be immune from budget cuts when lawmakers return to Richmond in January to work on a state spending plan in the face of a worsening economy.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Colgan and Del. Phil Hamilton told reporters and editors attending the annual AP Day at the Capital on Tuesday that lawmakers would not support tax increases. Instead, they said lawmakers must find areas to cut in order to balance the state's budget.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine will present his budget recommendations for the General Assembly's money committees later this month.
Kaine already has ordered layoffs, cut college funding, closed some older prisons and postponed state employee raises to deal with a $2.5 billion government shortfall.
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about time...
Education as a whole nationwide has had tons of tax dollars poured into it with even greater diminishing returns year after year. It's time to cut back on albatross that keeps getitng money thrown at it just to make some politician look like he/she is for education. Well here's a little ditty from way back when....it's not how much you make, it's how you spend it. Building lavish extremely expensive shool buildings educates nothing. Quality books (meaning interesting & historically accurate) refined curriculum, and determined "strict" teaching staff is what helps these kids get the point. So yes, let's start the "Do More With Less" approach and watch the returns grow for a change.
Pay cuts?
All our state representatives need to volunteer to take serious pay cuts at the same time. That would give them some credibility.