A legislative panel is backing off an earlier finding that the state needed to increase school spending next year by 2.5 percent and 2.9 percent more the year after that to support a constitutionally adequate education.

Some members thought the group was moving too fast. The recommendation is a chunk of money for a state that has seen a drop in revenues in each of the last two years. But, adequacy is adequacy. The state must pay the cost and then adapt elsewhere, under terms of the Supreme Court’s decision on support for education.

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With campaigns ahead this fall, I can understand a reluctance to forcefully recommend increased spending for anything, even education, with the inevitable questions about where the money will come from — either taxes or cuts in other popular programs.

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