Maryland teachers are none too happy upon learning that Gov. Martin O'Malley and his pals in the Democrat-controlled General Assembly are set to cut expected aid to local school districts by $152 million in the next fiscal year.

 School personnel throughout the state fear that these cuts will result in little to no annual raises over the next two years, encourage veteran teachers to leave the work force, and make it much more difficult for Maryland to attract teachers from out of state.

 As someone who left the teaching profession in 1999 after growing opposed to the entire concept of government schooling, I say we take this $152 million plus the billions more we spend on public education every year and return it all to taxpayers.

 But of course, that’s not going to happen anytime soon, so it makes sense to address this issue within the realm of reality. And the reality of the situation is that Marylanders pay almost a billion dollars in property taxes every year, about half of which is intended to finance public schools.

 Moreover, given the fact that politicians endlessly exploit children as an excuse to justify state funding of goods and services that parents should pay for, public education is (unfortunately) viewed as a legitimate function of government -- meaning that if Maryland’s budget needed to be slashed, you'd think cutting funding for teachers and students would be a last resort.

 I'm not suggesting we feel sorry for teachers when $5.4 billion of O'Malley's $30 billion operating budget goes to the department of education, especially when you consider that another $400 million in capital outlays will be spent on public school construction projects. However, from the teacher's perspective, it’s not altogether unreasonable that she would expect her salary to keep pace with the rate of inflation (which is caused by the government’s manipulation of the money supply in the first place).

 Notwithstanding the fact that some of Maryland’s new public schools look like country clubs, a quick glance at O'Malley's budget reveals any number of entitlement appropriations that could be sacrificed so teachers wouldn't potentially have to be. In the education budget alone, perhaps the governor could cut his $3.9 million in aid to non-public schools; or reduce the $1.7 million set aside for “environmental education”; the $126 million (!) for “limited English proficient” students; or my personal favorite, the $2.9 million for “innovative programs.”

 As for the rest of O’Malley’s budget, it couldn’t hurt to trim from the bloated transit and highway administrations (there’s almost $2 billion to work with there, Gov), or from discriminatory lending programs or the hundreds of millions in environmental expenditures that enable Maryland to manage water and sewer projects and buy up land aimed at restricting private development in the name of conservation.

 You might also forgive teachers’ frustration when the Birchmere Music Hall, Southern Maryland Stadium, and private schools and hospitals will be the recipients of almost $20 million combined in state grants and other government subsidies in 2008.

 As former governor Robert Ehrlich wrote recently, we in Maryland don’t have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem. Instead of spending only to revenue limits, Gov. O’Malley immorally increased the state’s deficit by allocating money he didn’t have and, worse yet, pushed a bill that will force taxpayers to accommodate his irresponsibility by forking over even more of their money in higher state taxes and fees.

 After O’Malley signed his new tax bill, he had the audacity to say, “It was hard to ask people to do more, but it would have been irresponsible to not ask the people of our state to choose to make progress.”

 Sorry, but you don't “ask” someone to do something at the point of a gun. I don't know about you, but I for one feel like I’m being coerced.

 Trevor Bothwell is a Maryland freelance writer who blogs at Who’s Your Nanny? Contact him at bothwelltj@yahoo.com.