RICHMOND --  Gov. Bob McDonnell went public Wednesday with his recommendations for $2.1 billion in spending cuts that he called "the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make in public life."

His suggestions include nearly $730 million in reductions to K-12 education, freezing enrollment in a health insurance program for low-income children and pregnant women, and requiring state workers to take as many as 10 unpaid days off and contribute more toward their pensions.

"There’s no doubt in my mind it will cause hardship for real Virginians,” McDonnell said. But he maintained his campaign pledge not to raise any taxes.

REACTION from the General Assembly

House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, said McDonnell's recommendations were welcome.
 
"We all are going to have a lot of tough decisions," Griffith said. "Ours may not be the same tough decisions the governor makes, but we're all trying to get to the best budget we can get with the money we have and all ideas are welcome."

[ More reaction: Griffith defends McDonnell's decision to lift a proposed freeze on adjusting the state's local composite index school funding formula.]

Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax County, a member of the Senate's budget negotiating team, said of McDonnell's cuts: "Every one of these is cutting the heart and soul out of state government."
 
Howell said the governor's proposal to eliminate funding for a school breakfast program for low-income children was "the most tragic."

Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, called McDonnell's proposal "a political tsunami."
 
"It's the biggest jobs-cutting budget I've ever seen," Edwards said. "When people find out the number of teachers that will have to be let go  ...  the number of health care workers that will be let go ... the number of services that will be cut, they will be outraged."
 
"The shame of it is, it's unnecessary," said Edwards, who said lawmakers could cushion the severity of the cuts by rolling back car tax relief subsidies as Kaine proposed.
 
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Lacey Putney, I-Bedford, said McDonnell's recommendations "are pretty much in line" with the blueprint being hammered out by the House budget-writing panel.
 
But, Putney said, "I don't find much appetite on the House side for using furloughs for state employees."
 
Putney said members have concerns about how the furloughs will be implemented, particularly in state hospitals and corrections facilities.
 
Senate Democrats are divided over whether to propose a balanced budget that relies entirely on cuts, but Howell said the Finance Committee will produce a plan by its Sunday deadline.

[Could McDonnell's budget ax help presidential ambitions? Comment on Dan Casey's blog.]

K-12 EDUCATION: "They're throwing the children in Virginia's poorest localities under the bus," says Virginia Education Association lobbyist

The Associated Press on Tuesday obtained a four-page summary assembled by a legislative budget writing committee from briefings senior McDonnell budget advisers gave to committee members and staffs.

It is the most detailed accounting yet of the administration's priorities in attempting to reconcile a $4 billion revenue shortfall for state budgets through 2012, and provides the first clear picture of who will suffer the most from McDonnell's proposed cuts.

The document shows that McDonnell wants to cut $730 million in state support to local schools from kindergarten through high school.

The largest bite comes from resetting the funding base to that used in fiscal year 2006, a two-year reduction totaling $225 million. Other cuts to education include $130 million from removing state salary supplements for sports coaches and department chairs, nearly $92 million from eliminating initiatives such as Mentor Teacher and school breakfast programs and nearly $20 million in savings from extending the work lives of school buses.

House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, defended McDonnell's decision to lift a proposed freeze on adjusting the state's local composite index school funding formula. The composite index measures a locality's ability to pay for its public schools, and Kaine had proposed delaying an adjustment to the formula in his December budget. Lifting the freeze will steer more money to Northern Virginia at the expense of other localities, but Griffith said the governor is right to propose the change.
 
"If we start saying when it benefits another region of the state that we don't like it, then in a couple of years they may do away with it and we'll be getting the short end of the stick," Griffith said. "It's helped us for 30 years. It hurts us this year. But I suspect it will help us for 30 years in the future, and messing with it and playing games with it in a single year is foolish."
 
Virginia Education Association lobbyist Robley Jones said McDonnell's overall education cuts will have a disproportionate effect on poor and rural localities that are less able to make up the difference.
 
"They're throwing the children in Virginia's poorest localities under the bus," Jones said.
 
Virginia School Boards Association executive director Frank Barham warned that if the cuts are incorporated by legislators, schools would have to lay off tens of thousands of teachers, raise class sizes and cut programs.


STATE EMPLOYEES: Proposals include up to five unpaid furlough days annually

McDonnell plans even deeper reductions — nearly $925 million — from compensation and benefits to state employees.

That includes requiring state employees to take up to five unpaid furlough days off each of the next two years. State workers have already been put on notice that pay raises are out and that some will be expected to fund more of their retirement plans.

Read an e-mail Gov. McDonnell sent to state employees outlining his budget proposals [PDF, 20KB]

HEALTH AND WELFARE safety net programs, including those that aid the homeless and prevent teen pregnancies

The new Republican governor, just one month in office, also recommends nearly $300 million in cuts to Health and Human Resources programs, the legislative summary says. Some of those programs are a lifeline to the state's poorest residents.

Within the Department of Social Services, for example, McDonnell has suggested eliminating general fund support for nine programs outright, including $1.2 million for homeless assistance programs, $700,000 for domestic violence services, $4.8 million in child support supplements and $3.6 million for the state Healthy Families initiative.

From the Department of Health, McDonnell's lieutenants have suggested eliminating nearly $1 million from a teen pregnancy prevention program, cutting $1.8 million for the Virginia Association of Free Clinics, trimming $2.2 million from the Virginia Health Care Foundation and eliminating local health department dental care services.

McDonnell's first news conference on the state's budget crisis comes one day after a monthly report from Finance Secretary Richard D. Brown showing a 6.5 percent drop in January revenues. The state is seven months into the current fiscal year and revenue collections are already 4.7 percent behind what they were for the same period last year. The fiscal year ends on June 30.

For more details, return to www.roanoke.com later today and read tomorrow's Roanoke Times.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.