The state budget that cleared the Kansas Legislature last week is nothing to brag about.

They say the only sure way not to do something wrong is just not to do anything. That statement is perilously close to describing the Kansas legislative session that ended early Wednesday morning.

Most of the governor’s and legislators’ energy seemed to be focused throughout the session on not doing anything they could be blamed for later. The state’s financial crisis stymied any legislation that would move the state forward, and no one was willing to talk about raising any revenue until a group of freshman House members put a tax plan on the table in the closing days of the session.

The proposal was ignored by the governor and more seasoned legislators who were content with the no-tax standoff that had carried them through the session. Unwilling to raise any new revenue, legislators and the governor arrived at a budget compromise that uses a financial juggling act to produce a tenuous state balance sheet by the end of the fiscal year.

State lawmakers and the governor are proud of saying they have “protected” or “held harmless” funding for K-12 schools and higher education. They have done neither. They have maintained budgets in those areas that already had been severely cut. At the same time, other costs — most notably, health insurance costs — have continued to rise. The only way they can meet those costs is to cut in other areas.

The governor and state legislators also are proud they were able to squeeze out a 1.5 percent salary increase for state employees. Lawrence teachers may be fortunate to do that well this year. And if they do, it may mean more layoffs for district personnel. Oh, and by the way, all of those school district employees also will get paid a little late this year because the state can’t show a balanced budget on June 30 unless it delays $213 million in June payments to local school districts until July.

At the university level, the 1.5 percent increase is a poor substitute for the funding the state promised in the Higher Education Coordination Act of 1999 to help raise faculty salaries to a level that would allow Kansas universities to compete with their peers in other states.

The state did find money to shorten the waiting lists for elderly and disabled Kansans seeking state services. But to accomplish such meager goals the lawmakers had to hamstring areas such as the state transportation plan and pass the buck to local governments which probably will be forced to raise taxes to offset demand transfer payments they were scheduled to receive from the state.

And even with all of these measures, the state’s fiscal condition will continue to worsen and further shortfalls are likely to occur before the Legislature returns to Topeka next January. The final budget legislation gives the governor the option of either delaying state income tax refunds or accelerating property tax collections next year to raise additional revenue.

But — everyone applaud, now — the governor and legislators didn’t raise our taxes. They shuffled the books and passed the buck to local governments, but no one can blame state government for raising their taxes.

Sometimes, doing nothing is nothing to be proud of.