OLYMPIA – Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire set about Wednesday to dismantle or dissolve dozens of programs she’s championed because there’s no money to keep them running.
Citing a looming shortfall of $4.6 billion in the next state budget, Gregoire proposed plugging that gap by eliminating major health care programs for the poor, slashing funds for public schools, raising tuition for college students and hiking ferry fares.
Her spending plan issued Wednesday also calls for paying state workers less, blocking raises for teachers, charging entry fees to state parks and even canceling the 2012 presidential primary to try to blot all the red ink.
“I hate my budget because in some places I don’t even think it’s moral,” she said. “We have had to cut the unthinkable to prevent the unbearable.”
Overall, her plan calls for spending $32.1 billion between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2013, with $885 million set aside in reserve in case expected revenue doesn’t materialize.
While that’s still plenty of spending, what Gregoire seeks to cut will incite heated debate in the coming legislative session — most of it with and among members of her own party.
Her proposal now goes to the Legislature, which will craft and approve its own spending plan when the session begins Jan. 10. Democrats, who hold the majority in the House and Senate, will be the ones drafting proposals in each chamber. Thus they’ll be seeking ways to avert some of the governor’s biggest cuts.
She is proposing to carve $1.4 billion out of health care and human services, including ending the Basic Health Plan, which provides insurance to 66,000 people with low incomes and the Disability Lifeline program with its cash grants and medical coverage for tens of thousands statewide.
Also on the chopping block are health care for 27,000 children and state-funded food stamps for 14,000 residents. All are programs which Democratic lawmakers are sure to ardently defend.
Then there’s education, where she slashes $2.2 billion in funding for public schools. About half of that comes from not paying for Initiatives 728 and 732 to provide smaller classes and higher pay for teachers.
She also eliminates money for all-day kindergarten and for shrinking class sizes in kindergarten through fourth grades. Schools can continue offering all-day kindergarten if parents pay.
Gregoire also calls for carving $630.7 million from higher education. About half would be offset by hiking tuition 10 percent at community and technical colleges, 11 percent at the University of Washington, Washington State University and Western Washington University, and 9 percent at the other four-year universities.
In transportation, she wants to boost ferry fares by 10 percent in the next two years, add a surcharge for fuel, reduce the number of daily sailings and cancel a second boat for the Port Townsend-Coupeville route.
Gregoire also wants to cancel the 2012 presidential primary to save $10 million, close state historical museums in Tacoma and Spokane and eliminate the Washington State Arts Commission.
“This is a budget that touches every community throughout our state. It touches every person directly or indirectly,” Gregoire said. “Behind the numbers is a face of a person that will be dramatically impacted by what we do.”
Many people showed up Wednesday at Gregoire’s office to denounce the cuts to education, health care and human services. One group parked empty wheelchairs outside her office door to protest cuts to in-home care for elderly and the disabled.
Roberta Starne of Snohomish, who’s spent 40 years in nursing, said she stands to lose her job in First Steps, which helps pregnant moms prepare themselves physically and mentally for motherhood.
“We’re sort of like family doctors,” she said of serving mostly lower-income women who can’t afford pre-natal services. “If a mom is healthy, there’s a much better chance their baby will be born healthy.”
Without the program, she said, there will be more illness among poor and homeless moms and “more babies in ICU.”
The leader of the powerful statewide teachers’ union said the cuts to education are “unacceptable” and will leave public schools unable to adequately serve students.
“I recognize we’re in challenging times. But our kids cannot afford to wait for the end of the recession to get the quality education they deserve,” said Mary Lindquist, president of the Washington Education Association.
Not surprisingly, Democratic lawmakers didn’t embrace the governor’s proposal and expect to craft their own budget next year, with cuts in different places.
“How it will differ I clearly can’t say at this point,” said House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan, D-Covington. “But any of the choices we make will have a serious negative impact on the social structure of our state, the education of our children and the future of our economy. We are out of good options.”
Republicans’ reaction varied from lukewarm acceptance to outright rejection.
“It appears the governor has given the Legislature a good place to start,” said Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, who is the ranking Republican on the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Rep. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, a member of the House budget-writing panel, had harsh words for what many view as a harsh budget from a Democratic governor.
“I don’t understand why the governor has crafted budgets she hates rather than putting out responsible plans that reform government,” Bailey said in a statement. “Unfortunately, her proposals do not provide a vision for the future.”
Buried in the budget is a nugget of good news for Everett Community College: Gregoire is recommending the college receive $37.6 million to replace Index Hall.
Built in 1968, Index Hall is home to the college’s nursing and health sciences programs. With funding, construction on the new three-story building would begin next summer and open in 2013 for nursing and health science students. It will be near the Student Fitness and Health Center, with part of it on the site of the former Royal Motor Inn, which the college recently acquired.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com
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