In the climate of diminished fiscal expectations, it is difficult to say what the state Legislature might deem worthy of financial support.

At least we know one that won't get its support: a four-year institution of higher learning for Tulare County.

Time and again, this area has been spurn-ed in its efforts to get the Legislature to support a four-year college for this county. Local business and political leaders will have to intensify their lobbying to get it done. But the public also has to show it embraces a four-year school, and that means voting for a bond for College of the Sequoias.

The latest try at a four-year school died quietly in the Legislature last week when Assemblyman Bill Maze couldn't get a second on a proposal to appoint an advisory committee to study the idea of allowing local community colleges to offer four-year degrees.

That's a very discouraging snub, when lawmakers won't even approve a committee. They appoint committees in the Legislature as frequently as they pass ceremonial resolutions.

Sacramento is not just ignoring Tulare County on this issue, they are flagrantly slighting it. Political, business, community and educational leaders have all clamored for a four-year school for Tulare County.

They will have to continue to do so, in a way that shows the Legislature that this area cannot extract itself from the cycle of poverty, high unemployment, low wages and unskilled jobs without raising the sophistication of its educational profile. This county needs a place where it's possible to get a four-year de-gree.

Voters in Tulare County, and especially in Visalia, did not help advance the issue when they re-jected Measure N in last month's primary election. One of the provisions of Meaure N would have been to develop a four-year program at COS in conjunction with California State University, Fresno. But Measure N didn't come close to passing.

Tulare County residents have to show they care about education, too. They have to provide some support for COS and its expansion plans. They must show they will support an institution that offers a four-year degree.

So far, that message has been lost on Sacramento. Maybe it's time to shout it one more time, louder, and with feeling. And then the public needs to put its votes where its mouth is.