Just a few weeks after she won re-election, Gov. Chris Gregoire now faces a $5 billion state budget shortfall.

State revenue forecasters Wednesday released data that estimates state tax revenue will fall by an additional $1.9 billion below projections. That’s on top of the $3.2 billion shortfall everyone had known about.

So, how bad is it?

“This is as bad as I’ve ever seen it,” said the governor’s budget director, Victor Moore.

The impact here will be painful - very painful.

By law, the state must balance its budget. No fancy fiddling, like Congress does with the national numbers. And the state can’t put it on a Visa card, either.

What will happen is cuts - lots of them.

On the facing page is a piece from Jean Floten, president of Bellevue Community College. She makes note of the coming state budget shortfall and makes the pitch that community colleges are the last place we should make cuts. These colleges are one of the few places where people can turn to improve their education and get the skills needed to climb out of their economic hole.

It’s doubtful community colleges will be spared in the coming budget wars. Already one report has them targeted for a $600 million overall cut. That’s about 20 percent of their spending.

It shouldn’t come to that, but there’s no doubt that many very, very difficult decisions are going to have to be made by the legislature and the governor.

A $5 billion shortfall means budgetary life as we know it no longer exists. It means that some state programs, state workers and state projects will be eliminated.

There’s no real way to tweak our way out of this. While tax revenue is falling, needs are increasing. More people are out of work and need state services. More students are in school and must be educated.

No proposed solution will be popular. All of them will hurt some groups - maybe most - hard.

The time has come for the state to wring every penny out of its operations and then squeeze those pennies some more.

We’re all going to have to absorb some pain to make the next budget work. Grab your aspirin bottle.

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