Tenth District legislators have joined their comrades in Olympia in yet-another attempt to make expenditures match income. It’s an almost impossible task with the economy in its fourth year of the doldrums marked by high unemployment and increasing human needs while there isn’t even enough revenue to maintain the status quo.

Teachers throughout Whidbey Island have literally demonstrated their opposition to more education cuts. Education is by law the state’s top priority but since it’s also the top expenditure, it’s always the natural place to look to save money.

Education hasn’t been decimated over the past few years of recession, but whatever fat was there has been squeezed out. In Oak Harbor, teaching positions go unfilled, the campuses aren’t quite as sparkling due to janitorial layoffs, and administrators are ordered to do more with less while maintaining a quality education. This special session and the ensuing regulation session which begins in January could have dire consequences for the district if levy equalization dollars are cut, as the governor has proposed. Coupeville schools are also hanging on by a thread, and the same is true on South Whidbey.

It would be easy to maintain education funding if it weren’t for other human needs that go unmet as legislators continue to hack away at the budget. Nursing homes feel threatened and raise the prospect of closing or turning clients away due to lack of state support. The state health care program is in tatters, with thousands cut from the rolls already. That just means more patients heading for hospital emergency rooms, which themselves are desperate for more funding.

Meanwhile, the lowly taxpayer has his or her own concerns. Inflation is higher than the government will admit, people lucky enough to have jobs likely haven’t had a decent raise in several years, housing values are in the tank and any investment that doesn’t actually lose money is considered a good one.

But, as always, it’s the taxpayer who’s being eyed to bail out education, health care and other important state and local needs. Will voters approve tax increases once the need is clearly demonstrated, or are they too frightened by this ugly recession to spend more of their precious resources on government services? That’s the big question, and right now nobody has the answer.