Let the whining begin

There were a lot of Democrats rising to applaud the governor’s promises of more local aid during his State of the State speech this week. And then, of course, there are those for whom any budget increase will never be enough.

The latter would include Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz (D-Jamaica Plain), Senate chair of the Legislature’s Education Committee, who now insists that the more than $100 million in new education money promised by Gov. Charlie Baker in the proposed fiscal 2019 budget released yesterday, is “just plain inadequate for the job.”

Of course, Chang-Diaz has been singing this same song for a rather long time backed up by a chorus of teachers unions.

“I’m certain the governor is aware of the economic concept of inflation — and his proposal barely keeps up with health care inflation alone,” Chang-Diaz said in a statement. “In fact, his budget proposal would leave K-12 funding down more than 5 percent since 2002, when adjusted for inflation. That means more cuts to classrooms, in reality.”

State education funding currently stands at a record $4.7 billion. Baker’s new budget will bring that to $4.865 billion and include $15 million for districts impacted by students who arrived here from hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and $24.3 million for the rising cost of health care for retirees.

Now there are further reforms that could be made in things like health care coverage for teachers and retirees — but just look at the brouhaha by union leaders last week when the state Group Insurance Commission simply narrowed the number of plans available from six to three.

Yes, reforms are difficult — and throwing more money at a problem is so easy. Perhaps someone on Beacon Hill will ask Chang-Diaz what she’d like to cut to put more money into education. Oh, yes, that!