If there’s one thing that can be learned since the last gubernatorial election, it’s that the higher education lobby in this state needs to stop giving blanket support to Democrats and start exercising more political autonomy.

Of course, educators don’t heed the lesson. Gov. Gray Davis already has locked up endorsements from teachers unions and education associations, even as he continues to chip away at college and university budgets.

Last year, Davis cut $123 million from an already-spread-thin statewide community college budget, and he is proposing a $160 million cut for next year. All the while, student enrollment is on the rise, and is expected to grow 36 percent in the next 10 years.

Education officials are not happy with the governor’s policies. As they try to find ways to compensate for the cuts, such as laying off faculty, the consensus is that their hands are tied — the budget comes from Davis in Sacramento. Many, like Palomar College’s governing board members, are held captive until the governor’s budget numbers are updated in May. Many expect the cuts to run even deeper, and don’t know how to plan for next year without some direction from the governor.

But Davis has none. His own spokesman concedes that “it is impossible to tell what we are going to do in the future,” and that the governor devises education budgets on a year-by-year basis.

That might work if you’re running a Boy Scout troop, but no the largest higher education system in the world. It’d ludicrous for Davis — the self-proclaimed “education governor” — to have no plan when a huge influx of students is on its way.

It’s even more ludicrous for the California Faculty Association, the Faculty Association of the California Community Colleges and the California School Employees Association to support such a governor as he seeks re-election.

Community colleges aren’t the only ones on the chopping block. Davis is expected to cut $17 million in University of California financial aid funds and is making cuts to the system’s K-12 outreach programs. Davis has also put every Cal State University campus on notice that he may want them to cut up to 15 percent of their budgets next year.

Davis has his excuses. The economy is no longer booming as it did during his first two years in office, and the state now expects a $12.7 billion deficit. The energy crisis, too, consumed much of the state’s resources. But Davis didn’t have a plan before these things happened, and, had he managed them more responsibly, college officials wouldn’t feel forced to consider laying off faculty to compensate for Davis’ lack of foresight. Besides, we didn’t see a huge increase in higher education funding at the beginning of Davis’ tenure — when the state boasted surpluses close to $15 billion.

To be fair, Republican candidate Bill Simon doesn’t say much about higher education, and there’s no reason for him to do so. It’s assumed he won’t get any support form teachers unions and other higher education groups because they always support Democrats — so why would he waste his time?

On that same note, Davis doesn’t have to do anything to court higher education either. They are going to endorse him no matter what he does, and he knows it. He is free to take advantage of them and still call himself the advocate of the educator.

It’s ironic, really. Usually lobbyists are associated with holding the politician’s puppet strings, not the other way around. But Davis and the Democrats seem to control the education lobby more than educators are able to influence policy.

Why members of the education establishment continue to allow to Davis to use them is beyond comprehension. One would think educators would learn.

Perhaps if teachers unions and higher education associations weren’t Davis’ puppy dog their message would be heard. If Davis thought educators would walk away after being ignored, he would do more for the state’s colleges and universities. Likewise, if Simon and the Republicans thought teachers unions might come to the other side of the aisle, they would also do more for higher education.

It’s high time blanket support for any political party ended, especially when it comes to such a bipartisan issue as education.

Unfortunately, like the battered wife who keeps returning to an abusive husband, the education lobby keeps supporting Democrats — and Gray Davis.