THIS page has not been patient with the Legislature. Maybe we had it wrong.

For many months The Times has been urging legislators who manage the budget to "just fix it."

In September, when a big gap had opened between projected spending and projected revenues, we told legislative leaders to agree to a special session right away. They agreed on one in December.

Then we told them to fix it by the end of December. They did a halfway job and went home for Christmas. Then we told them to have it done by the end of January.

It is now almost the end of March. Legislators told us their colleagues needed a lot more time, and we see they were correct. There is no point in telling legislators to be quick. But looking back 10 years from now, no one will care whether they were quick. People will care only that legislators got it right or whether they let it get worse.

Speed is not the issue. Substance is.

This is a seminal moment in state government. Legislators can fix the budget or they can pretend to fix it. In our view, legislators need to fix it for real.

This requires three principles.

The first is that the current budget cannot borrow from the next budget, but must live within the revenues current taxes provide. This is a simple idea, and ought not be controversial. But it is.

The second principle is that multiyear spending programs must be reformed to cost less. This page has argued many times for such reforms, including consolidation in the medical-benefits system for teachers and repeal of the special early-retirement provisions for state workers.

The third principle is that there be no further cuts to public education, including technical schools, community colleges and universities. To further shrink education shrinks the future of Washington.

The state budget must be balanced, sustainable and protective of the future. These are the three principles. They are simple — and also difficult.

We appreciate that some legislators will have to swallow hard, but that changes neither the problem nor the answer.

The shape of that answer should be coming into focus.