Facing the prospect of cutting an additional $1 billion to $1.5 billion from the state’s two-year budget, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said yesterday that the next round of cuts will include layoffs and reductions in funding for K-12 education. “I’ve done a number of layoffs already, and there will be more,“ Kaine said during his monthly call-in radio show on WRVA (1140 AM) in Richmond.

Facing the prospect of cutting an additional $1 billion to $1.5 billion from the state’s two-year budget, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said yesterday that the next round of cuts will include layoffs and reductions in funding for K-12 education. “I’ve done a number of layoffs already, and there will be more,“ Kaine said during his monthly call-in radio show on WRVA (1140 AM) in Richmond.

Richmond school administrators are putting together their financial plans for the 2009-10 school year, but they don’t want to go it alone in a year when cuts are likely to top curriculum as the top issue. With more than $260 million in taxpayer money at stake, the system’s interim superintendent is asking the community what it wants and expects from its schools.

That loud ringing coming from Independence Hall is not the Liberty Bell but an alarm sounding from the nation’s governors seeking federal help from the next president for their budget-strapped states. At least 41 states face a projected $143 billion in deficits during the next two years. So yesterday, Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine was among 48 governors and governors-elect who met with President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.

While the General Assembly and the four prospective candidates for governor don’t want to increase taxes while the economy is in recession, proposed cuts in K-12 education and health care will be on the table, two legislative leaders said yesterday. Del. Phillip A. Hamilton, R-Newport News, vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Charles J. Colgan, D-Prince William, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, made the comments while speaking to journalists at Associated Press Day at the Capital, held at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Trim the household budget or trim the tree? Even in grinchy economic times, homeowners shouldn’t have to make that choice. There are endless ways to festively decorate a home without spending too many of those precious dollars.

Richmond city government retirees will have to wait a little longer to find out whether they’ll get a raise in their pensions, but it could be worth their while. The City Council postponed last night’s scheduled vote on a proposed 1 percent cost-of-living increase for retirees and discussed taking up the matter in January, after Mayor-elect Dwight Clinton Jones takes office. Jones supported a raise for retirees during the fall campaign and reiterated that position in general terms yesterday.

The Richmond City Council could decide Monday between giving a 1 percent raise to city retirees and squirreling away funds to weather the stormy economy.

Minus Richmond’s current and future mayor, members of the City Council and School Board pressed tonight their priorities for the 2009 General Assembly session. The dinner discussion touched on a range of topics but was dominated by a hope that lawmakers would limit the impact of potentially severe budget cuts on critical services, including education and public safety.