And that's before the lunatic right takes over the state government.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/virg-j05.shtmlIn mid-December, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine proposed $2.3 billion in budget cuts for the 2010-2012 period, along with a 1 percent increase in the state’s income tax, from 5.75 percent to 6.75 percent annually.
Among the many severe measures outlined in the two-year budget are a 26 percent cut in funding for higher education, the closure of mental health facilities, the axing of 664 state workers’ jobs along with the elimination of 1,879 vacant positions, substantial give-backs from state workers, and reduced funding to transportation, health care, and elementary education. The cuts come on top of $7 billion in cuts during the previous 18 months as the worst economic crisis since the 1930s has sapped state revenue sources.
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Nearly half of the spending cuts in Kaine’s budget come from elementary and higher education, in keeping with the national trend in dismantling this democratic right. Elementary education alone stands to lose $754 million in funding. This is to be achieved primarily by eliminating support staff for teachers and millions of dollars for new textbooks.
After initially praising Kaine for “largely avoiding” elementary education cuts in the past, Virginia Education Association President Kitty Boitnott said at the unveiling of the budget, “No one should doubt that the state cuts, added to the economic pressures local governments already face, will hit every public school in Virginia. We’re going to see more crowded classrooms, cuts to both core and specialized programs, layoffs of teachers and support professionals.”
The budget also calls for a 26 percent reduction in funding for public colleges and universities. Over the next two years, the University of Virginia will see a cut of $27 million; Virginia Tech, $32 million; and James Madison University, $14.5 million. The state’s Community College system will lose a total of $66 million. With cuts as drastic as these, students can count on painful tuition increases. Kris Landrum, public relations director of Patrick Henry Community College, told a local paper that “every college in the VCCS
...is going to be struggling to operate efficiently and effectively.”
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The so-called caboose budget (so called because it is proposed at the end of a governor’s term) will probably not become law in its current form. Incoming Republican Governor Bob McDonnell has criticized Kaine’s budget—not for its decimation of essential services, but for increasing the state income tax. (Kaine’s elimination of a car tax and increase in the income tax create a net revenue gain of $950 million.) If McDonnell forgoes the income tax increase, substantial budget cuts will be necessary over and above those proposed by Kaine.
Whatever its final form, it is abundantly clear that Virginia’s budget will reflect the parasitic interests of the US financial oligarchy. The latter have consciously adopted the policy of utilizing the present economic crisis to attack the social position of the working class. Despite differences in tactics, both political parties in Richmond understand this to be their supreme task.
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