antural Bridge Juvenile Correctional Center

The closure of an exemplary juvenile corrections center is a budget matter that lawmakers should not try to address piecemeal.



The Roanoke Times



Virginia lawmakers should resist the urge to call another special session of the General Assembly, this time to reverse Gov. Tim Kaine's decision to close the Natural Bridge Juvenile Correctional Center to save money.



The idea for a special session has been put forward by Republican Del. Ben Cline of Rockbridge County, who says Republican House Speaker Bill Howell has advised him it's "under consideration."



Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds, a member of the state Senate and of the governor's party, says he'd support a session limited to reconsidering correctional facility closures. Natural Bridge is not the only one lopped off by the budget-cutting ax.



What a pity that such a rare show of bipartisanship in the General Assembly is so ill advised.



The prison closures are among many painful spending cuts Kaine ordered earlier this month to balance the state budget, reductions he has not only the authority but the duty to make in light of continuing deep shortfalls in revenues as the national recession wears on.



Shutting down the Natural Bridge center is a particularly unfortunate repercussion. The decision, though, was the governor's to make in weighing another $1.35 billion in cuts to a general fund already slashed by billions of dollars in three earlier rounds that left no easy targets.



Kaine and his advisers looked at the general fund budget as a whole to come up with targeted cuts to close the revenue gap without proposing any tax increase.



Lawmakers would be unwise to tinker, thinking they can restore spending to one program without coming up with new money -- a nonstarter -- or doing unintended, and probably worse, damage elsewhere.



It's easy to understand the temptation. The juvenile center is a gem, by all accounts a model correctional program for guiding low-risk juvenile offenders into law-abiding, productive adult lives. The young inmates have educational opportunities and the chance to leave the campus-like grounds to take work-release jobs and attend community college. It is, Department of Juvenile Justice Director Barry Green acknowledges, an outstanding center, one "we're not pretending we can replicate." But one the department can no longer afford.



Lawmakers are right to want to hold on to success, even expand on it. The task, though, is larger than the patch work proposed. The General Assembly will have a chance to reorder its spending priorities in January, at its regular session, and grapple with the budget as a whole.



Says Green: "I wouldn't be surprised if the General Assembly made more cuts."