Come on, guys (and gals)

Laura Leslie offers an excellent synopsis of Senate budget highlights, except for the editorial comment:

K-12 education takes a pretty brutal hit under the Senate plan.? It
would slash funding for preschool programs, increase class sizes in
grade-school classrooms, stop all standardized testing that isn?t
federally required, and put a one-year moratorium on ABC bonuses for
teachers.

Brutal? Really? When I think of the metaphorical use of the word “brutal” ? outside the context of true physical brutality ? I think of exceptionally painful, debilitating cuts. Cuts in the neighborhood of 25 percent to 30 percent (of the entire budget) come to mind. Shaving the fat, especially the fat that’s accumulated only during the last decade or so, doesn’t strike me as particularly brutal.

It’s similar to saying that children and teachers will “take a hit.”