EDITORIAL: Taking up the business of tough cuts

Breaking extended silence on the budget and a pesky $4.2-billion spending deficit, Gov. Robert F. McDonnell has spoken, demonstrating to his detractors the value of sealed lips.

He proposes slashing education spending by $731 million and health and welfare programs by $300 million and saving $181 million by requiring state employees to take 10 furlough days over the next two years and $612 million by requiring workers hired after July 1 to pay part of the freight on their retirement plan.

To state employees, we say welcome to the world of the rest of us.

The cuts we've cited are among the highlights of McDonnell's heavily anticipated contribution to the state budget debate. He had been discussing his plans for weeks with state lawmakers but not publicly, leaving Democrats to assail him for having ostensibly sought political cover while legislators fought the fiscal wars.

Now the inevitable is occurring The education establishment is bemoaning an assault on children. "They are throwing the children of Virginia's poorest children under the bus," Virginia Education Association lobbyist Robley S. Jones told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Jones refers, partly, to McDonnell's proposal to eliminate the school breakfast program. This echoes a refrain from local superintendents who have fretted over cuts in free- and reduced-lunch programs.

The administrators' concerns are laudable and understandable. But they miss a reality to which McDonnell's proposal points: It is not government's responsibility to feed schoolchildren two of three squares a day. That job belongs to parents. It's time more assumed their obligations -- which, presumably, are fulfilled in summer months -- rather than burden further a taxpayer-fed system that already is strained.

Another of McDonnell's proposals targeting children worries us. He would sell for $9 million the Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents in Staunton. That 48-bed facility provides care for troubled and potentially dangerous children, among society's most neglected groups.

"I was quite alarmed to find that ... mention of the Commonwealth Center," said Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, echoing the concerns of others in the local Republican delegation.

Officials at Psychiatric Solutions Inc., of Franklin, Tenn., appear to be considering a facility in Staunton. PSI submitted a letter to the state citing its intent to open a 48-bed childcare facility in Staunton.

PSI, which operates 10 facilities in Virginia, since last year has contributed $60,000 to McDonnell's inaugural committee and campaign. We trust that only the best interests of the children and state guided McDonnell's thinking.

We recognize the inescapablity of cuts and the precarious balance between fiscal prudence and providing essential services. But some small savings -- such as those related to the Commonwealth Center -- pose large dilemmas and risks that should not be considered lightly. Virginia's elected leaders, starting with the man at the top, should recognize this and act accordingly.

-- The News Virginian