Fighting cuts to education, social services while legislative budget bill still missing 

By Darwyyn Deyo | PA Independent

HARRISBURG – In the midst of a muggy day at the state Capitol, thousands gathered to protest Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed cuts to state government.

Those gathered for the rally were part of the Coalition for Labor Engagement and Accountable Revenues, known as CLEAR, including union members and leaders from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the AFL-CIO chapters in Pennsylvania.

Georganne Husiker, a member of AFSCME Local 2592, said the governor’s budget cuts will be paid for by middle-class worker in Pennsylvania.

“I’m here today to have the governor work on a fair budget,” she said. “There are a lot of things that could be taxed instead of keeping taking from taxpayers. … We just keep giving, giving, giving and even with the cuts in his budget it still comes down to the middle class. I’ll be paying more for education … and I think everybody should share the sacrifice.”

Funding from the state for education is one of the most controversial matters at the Capitol, with Corbett’s proposed funding level of $10.04 billion about 3 percent lower than the 2010-11 fiscal year. That figure does not include cuts to higher education, which is being funded at about 50 percent of last year’s funding.

Corbett defended his budget Tuesday, insisting the state funding to basic education is lower “overall is because the federal money is not there.”

In addition to funding the state Department of Education, the proposed basic education subsidy for 2011-2012 would be $5.226 billion.

That subsidy goes directly to classroom education costs, while the education department also funds overhead, administration, busing and other school expenses. Last year, the basic education subsidy was $4.73 billion and was topped off by an additional $1 billion in federal stimulus funds, for a total of $5.7 billion.

But with the governor’s budget proposal nearly 2-months-old, the Legislature still has not released a budget bill, though budget hearings were completed a month ago. State Rep. Michael O’Brien, D-Philadelphia, minority vice-chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said he does not expect to see a budget bill released soon.

O’Brien said a legislative budget bill is normally introduced two weeks after the House Appropriations Committee concludes its budget hearings. 

“Traditionally at this point in time, the governor did his address (and) we went through the three weeks of budget hearings,” said O’Brien. “It’s maybe a week or two later the budget bill comes out. At this point in time we’ve yet to see that.”

House Education Committee Chair Paul Clymer, R-Bucks, said he believes a budget bill would be produced in the “near future.” 

“When that bill is driven out that may give us an indication of the changes taking place in the original budget,” said Clymer. “Monies from one department may be reduced, or there may be cuts across a series of line items, and then those cuts will provide the funding many of us are asking for our 14 state universities.”

Mike Stoll, spokesperson for the House Appropriations Chairman William Adolph, R-Delaware, said a budget bill may appear in early May.

“Given the time line when all this has to be completed (by June 30) there has to be a budget bill soon,” he said. “I think May is the goal, early May.”

Stoll would not confirm any of the options being explored by House lawmakers to restore funding to education, higher or otherwise.

“It’s fair to say that’s an area that the legislature’s looking (at),” Stoll said.

Responding to whether representatives were looking to move funding from a particular department over to education, however, Stoll said “that’s definitely one way, but looking at the options that are possible, given the governor’s $27.3 billion spending limit, that limits the options to reprioritizing and shifting the allocations.”

Despite O’Brien’s hope that with higher than expected revenues for the fiscal year the final budget would be closer to $28 billion, Stoll insisted House Republicans were committed to the $27.3 billion total budget spending limit identified by the governor, which Corbett reiterated Tuesday.

According to the state Department of Revenue, the state government said fiscal year-to-date tax appropriations total $22.5 billion, which is $505.9 million, or 2.3 percent, above estimate, though Corbett said he did not believe that was cause for a larger budget figure.

“I can’t predict that the increased revenue is going to be that large at the end of the fiscal year,” said Corbett. “If it were that large, I don’t think we should go above the $27.3 (billion figure) because this is going to be a slow recovery. We have a lot of debt and we have a lot of bills due and I think we could well use that money next year.”

The governor conceded the money could go to “a number of different places,” including the Rainy Day Fund, which has a current balance of $60,000.

Facing the long-term implications of the budget cuts, however, Bill Patton, spokesperson for the House Democratic caucus, said Corbett “made his priorities clear when he swung the budget ax at public schools.”

“A budget is a statement of principles,” Patton said . “It marks the beginning of a significant shift in school funding responsibility from the state to local taxpayers. The Corbett cuts will halt the consistently rising test scores of the last eight years and limit access to a better quality education.”