Give at least some credit to Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s proposed state budget, which he unveiled Monday: The governor understands that there’s not enough money — especially now — to satisfy all the demands placed on that money.

And we don’t have many quibbles with the areas that the governor said were his top priorities and helped guide some of his budget decisions: Education; health care, with an emphasis on children; transportation and renewable energy, both as an economic engine for Oregon and as a way to combat global warming.

We were pleased as well to see that the proposed budget treats Oregon State University relatively well.

But this is just a first draft, really, of a process that now moves to state legislators. Crafting the state budget traditionally is the central drama of the legislative session, and we expect the one that begins Jan. 12, 2009, to be no different. The budget that finally emerges from the session will almost undoubtedly be substantially different than what the governor proposed Monday.

For starters, expect to see advocates of K-12 schools start to pressure legislators for more money. Kulongoski’s budget devotes 54 percent of the state’s $16 billion in discretionary spending to education at every level. But while OSU officials liked what they saw Monday, the reviews from K-12 advocates were considerably harsher: “We got taken to the cleaners in this budget,” a lobbyist for Oregon School Administrators told The Oregonian.

Others, including Senate President Peter Courtney, worried about proposed reductions in social services — and how those would be coming at a time when economic conditions seem certain to increase the number of people needing those services.

It’s worth noting as well that Kulongoski’s budget relies on nearly $2 billion in new taxes and fees, from an increase in the corporate minimum tax to help pay for college-tuition grants to an increase in hospitals and health-insurance companies to boost the number of children and adults who get state-sponsored health insurance. The governor also proposes raising taxes on tobacco products to pay for health programs and raising $1 billion through car fees and a 2-cent gas tax to help pay for highway projects. Expect brisk discussions about the wisdom of raising taxes during an economic downtown.

In addition, the governor also proposes tapping into funds such as the Education Stability Fund for the second year of the budget for school money if the state’s economy doesn’t improve. He’s recommending, for the time being, that the state keep its mitts off the $341 million in the state’s so-called rainy-day fund; that seems wise, because we don’t know how much worse the economic weather might get.

So the jockeying already has begun and will continue for months. But Kulongoski’s proposal offers a good place to begin: In a time of limited resources, this appears to be a good-faith effort to set some strategic priorities for the state.

Everyone will have a bone — more likely, many bones — to pick with the budget. But the governor made some hard choices, and that sends a message to legislators and to the rest of the state: More hard choices are on the way.