However, policy experts said Corbett should try to find a way to address rising pension and retiree health-care costs and create a climate in which jobs can be created in the commonwealth.
- cutting $550 million in basic education;
- removing $100 million from Accountability Block Grants, which is an investment of $200 million made available to school districts to support programs to improve educational achievement of students;
- reducing spending by $625 million for state universities and colleges.
"I'm hoping not to see any more cuts in education or public service from this administration," said state Rep. Kevin Murphy, D-Lackawanna.
On the left, there are calls for increasing revenue.
Corbett "should reject the compromise Marcellus Shale drilling tax, which is too little," said Sharon Ward, director of the liberal Harrisburg-based economic think tank Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center.
Ward said the governor should avoid additional cuts to colleges and universities and increase his support for public schools, particularly those in the poorest districts.
The state also could see its financial situation improve by closing the so-called Delaware loophole, which helps companies to avoid the corporate income tax by setting up a shell company in Delaware, which doesn't tax franchise fees, intellectual property payments and other so-called passive income, Ward said.
Closing the loophole would force all businesses operating in the state to pay corporate income taxes, which the state Department of Revenue said could net Pennsylvania as much as $600 million annually.
Other budget analysts point to the state's ever-increasing pension debt that must be reckoned with sooner or later.
