Lawrence.com

are the ones to be most studiously avoided:TOPEKA - Lawmakers cut deeper into most state services Thursday to reduce the current state budget by $325.6 million, including a $32.3 million cut to public schools...[Minority Leader Sen. Anthony] Hensley argued that the $66 cut in per-pupil spending was not a compromise, since the Senate had proposed only a $33 cut.The reductions could bankrupt almost 50 school districts, he said. One item that seldom gets mentioned in these horrible "per student" budget disaster stories is how much is already being spent per student: $4433. Put another way, the cuts work out to $32 million out of a $3800 million budget, or less than 1%. If a less than 1% budget cut bankrupts 50 school districts, then they are so poorly run they should go bankrupt and the school buildings sold off to someone who knows how to handle money properly.But that's the good news(1). The bad news is that the state relied on GOP budget expertise gimmicks - "accounting changes and refinancing state bonds" - for more than half of the budget adjustment necessary to get through this year. Those are one-time fixes. Next year, the cuts will be far bigger and they will be far more difficult to avoid. State agencies have been told to expect 5% cuts. They will be bigger, trust me. And the screams will be far louder.Just another reason to expect an announcement this weekend that our Governess is off to Washington(2) to be the Commerce Secretary. Assuming she paid her taxes.(1) Well, it's bad news for people who think taxpayer-supported schools are dandy, but it's the best they are going to get. Since K-12 education is 56% of the general fund, it will not be able to avoid taking the lion's share of the cuts next year.(2) Which is rather funny, in that the former head of the Kansas GOP, Mark Parkinson, would take over as Democratic Governor. I wonder if anyone will work with him? This is not a flippant question. Just like Jesse Ventura found it hard to govern mostly because no party had an interest in his success, so Parkinson will. That's going to make it very hard for him to govern in any meaningful sense of the word.