On Monday, Gov. Siegelman held a luncheon for editors across the state. The topic of the discussion centered around the plan for education that will be formulated over the next six weeks.

The governor informed the editors that proration has occurred 14 times and that he was determined for it not to happen again.

Henry Mabry, director of finance for the State of Alabama, went into an intense discussion on corporate income tax and how many big companies are not paying their fair share. An example of a company was given in which the company's assets for 1999 totaled $1.1 billion; the same company paid zero dollars in taxes.

One newspaper editor recently commented that one major problem with education funding is that the education budget is based on the projected income tax of companies that will be paid the following year. It is essentially that

a projected estimate of what is to be paid, not what actually has been paid. This leaves those in Montgomery in a pickle if companies, such as the one mentioned earlier, find a loophole in the law, keeping kids and education literally out in the cold.

So what do Alabama legislators need to do to fix the education budget? Easy

plan a budget where funds are available, not where "guesstimation" is required.