My first reaction to this is “what! cuts again! this is wrong, this cannot be tolerated this…etc.”
And fundamentally that is my reaction. These budget cuts tend to hit education particularly hard (lobbyists just aren’t as strong, let’s face it), and it’s easy to say “well, if we increase ratio to 25 students to each teacher, that ripples through savings of X.”
But the state’s budget is a mess. I honestly don’t know how any governor can do anything to improve the situation without screwing over just about everyone. So many expensive budget items are not only in the budget, but are so entrenched that it’s impossible to get things changed.
And when it boils down to it, lobbyists come into play.
What was interesting was watching the nursing community put up such a huge fight when Whitman was running for governor against Brown. My wife is a nurse and to see such a strong response makes me realize how weak of a position education really has.