THE $99.1 BILLION spending plan signed by Gov. Gray Davis cuts practically every program and state government agency, a reflection of the lean times.

Rightly, even the California Department of Corrections budget has been trimmed by more than $35 million. But curiously, to absorb the cuts, the agency is retooling its educational system by eliminating or reducing the number of prisoners' vocational training programs at nearly every facility in the state.

Vocational training is the bread and butter of rehabilitation, providing skills to inmates who typically have none. In fact, a lack of skills is routinely cited as the reason many inmates committed crimes in the first place.

Experts are convinced that recidivism rates are largely spurred by inmates who are unemployable once they return to the streets.

Vocational programs also keep inmates busy, helping to stem prison violence.

A report on the deadly 1971 Attica prison riot in New York state found a lack of training programs partly responsible for the uprising. Meanwhile, a study by the federal Office of Correctional Education found that recidivism rates dropped from 31 percent to 21 percent for those who participated in prison education programs.

In 2000, more than 42 percent of male parolees and more than a third of female parolees were back in prison within a year. More than 60,000 state prisoners read below the fifth-grade level, and it is estimated that about 100, 000 inmates will be released next year without prospects for jobs.

With each dollar spent on prison education saving $2 in recidivism costs, it would be more fiscally sound -- and better enhance public safety -- if CDC kept its education spending intact and found other ways to save money.