Members of the State Employees Association spent Wednesday morning in the halls of the General Assembly talking to legislators about the recent furloughs, the increase in their premiums for family health care coverage, and possible layoffs.

The lobbying comes the day before House budget writers should receive their final spending targets to use as they put next year's budget together.

No one expects good news after last week's announcement by Governor Beverly Perdue that revenues for the current fiscal year were another billion dollars lower than estimated.

That prompted Perdue to order the furloughs and use federal stimulus money that was slated for next year's budget. It all adds up to an even larger hole for House budget writers to fill, as much as $1.3 billion more than the Senate budget that made deep cuts to public schools and early childhood programs even after including $500 million in new revenue.

House leaders are already promising much deeper cuts, making it even tougher for advocates for children to improve on the Senate recommendations to slash funding for Smart Start and More at Four, two nationally recognized early childhood programs.

Lawmakers ought to protect children and public schools from the worst of the budget cuts and that means raising more revenue than the Senate proposes. But there are other ways to help kids this session that don't cost money, some that save tax dollars in the long run.

One important proposal would protect kids from bullying at school, which seems like legislation that would pass with little dissent.

The bullying bill includes sexual orientation in a list of characteristics of children who are often singled out for mistreatment at school, which makes perfect sense, but it has turned legislation designed to protect kids into a litmus test issue for the religious right.

And not the only one. Legislation to allow parents to choose the sex education curriculum their children are taught at school is also causing quite a stir. Most school systems now just offer abstinence-only sex ed, which leaves out a lot of vital information to help teenagers protect themselves.

The current proposal would allow parents to choose the abstinence-only curriculum, comprehensive sex education, or none at all. That is somehow worrisome to the same religious conservative opposing the bullying bill.

The House recently passed legislation increasing the parental notification provision in the state's corporal punishment law. Sixty of the state's 115 school districts currently allow school personnel to strike children as a form of discipline. Legislation to abolish corporal punishment in schools failed last session.

Child advocates are also trying again this session to bring North Carolina in line with all but two other states by ending the practice of treating 16 and 17-year-olds as adults when they are charged with a crime.

Judges would still be able to send violent cases to adult court, but the presumption would be that juveniles charged with crimes are treated in juvenile justice system, where there's far more emphasis on treatment and rehabilitation than the adult system.

Research shows that 16 and 17-year-olds treated in the juvenile system are less likely to commit another crime. That means fewer crime victims and a better chance for troubled teens to turn their lives around.

Wednesday's budget numbers and new revenue targets will focus attention again on the worst fiscal crisis in North Carolina in a generation and House members putting a spending plan together ought to find the political courage to raise enough revenue to avoid damaging cuts to education and the state's vital services, especially ones that protect and help children.

But no matter what happens with the budget, lawmakers need to help kids in ways that have nothing to with money, protect them from being bullied or spanked at school, give them information to avoid unwanted pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases, and give troubled teenagers a chance at turning their lives around instead of locking them up in the adult prison system.

Time to put aside the ideological wars and stand up for kids.