Budget slashes spending
HARRISBURG — In his first budget as Pennsylvania governor, Tom Corbett called Tuesday for a $1 billion cut in state spending for public schools and the elimination of hundreds of state jobs in a $27.3 billion budget that he said separates “the must-haves from the nice-to-haves.”
The Republican also threw down the gauntlet to organized labor, warning unions that represent 75,000 state employees he will be seeking concessions in salaries and benefits in contract talks that are expected to begin soon. And he suggested that unionized teachers and other school employees voluntarily agree to a one-year salary freeze to save their cash-strapped school districts money.
“If government is here to share the taxpayers' wealth, then everyone needs to share in the sacrifice,” he said.
The leader of the largest state employee union said Corbett's call for concessions was not unexpected and that he welcomed the governor's willingness to negotiate contracts to replace the current ones, which expire in June.
“The good news is that he's not going down the Wisconsin path,” said David Fillman, director of Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, referring to attempts by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to strip most public employees of their collective bargaining rights.
Corbett's budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 reflects a decrease of about 3 percent from this year's spending level and assumes that improving state tax collections will help produce a surplus of more than a half-billion dollars by the end of this year and grow next year.
In keeping with his campaign pledge to avoid tax increases, Corbett attacked the projected $4 billion deficit as a product of unsustainable spending increases and budget gimmicks that propped them up until now. The budget would eliminate more than 1,500 state jobs, bringing the total down from nearly 81,500 to fewer than 80,000.
“The substance of this budget is built on four core principles: Fiscal discipline, limited government, free enterprise and reform,” Corbett said in his address before a joint gathering of the House and Senate.
At the same time, Corbett renewed his call to privatize state liquor stores and he reaffirmed his opposition to a tax on the state's booming natural gas industry. The Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale formations below Pennsylvania could make it “the Texas of the natural gas boom,” he said. “I'm determined that Pennsylvania not lose this moment.”
The Education Department budget, which totals about $11 billion this year, has been buoyed this year by hundreds of millions in federal stimulus money that is not expected to be available next year and Corbett proposes about $1 billion less for 2011-12.Corbett advocated reducing the appropriation for public schools by $550 million. He also proposes eliminating $259 million in special grants that subsidized programs such as all-day kindergarten and $224 million in reimbursements to school districts for students who transfer to charter schools.He also advocated spending cuts of about $625 million — more than 50 percent — for the 14 state-owned universities in the State System of Higher Education, plus the “state-related” schools: Pitt, Temple, Penn State and Lincoln.The state system includes Slippery Rock University.The department's budget contains some spending increases, including a $328 million boost in the state's contribution to the Public School Employees' Retirement System.Natalie Ramos-Castillo, president of the student body at Temple in Philadelphia, said she had talked to her counterparts at Pitt, Penn State and Lincoln, and that lawmakers would soon be inundated with phone calls and letters from students protesting the cuts.“It's easy to cut numbers when you don't see their faces and you don't know who you're directly affecting,” said Ramos-Castillo, 21, of Allentown.The Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, said the combined loss of federal and state funds will hurt education across the state.“We can't slash school spending, cut programs that work, and still expect our students' success to continue. If we are going to educate our students for the challenges of tomorrow, we need to invest in programs that work — today,” said union President James P. Testerman.Corbett's proposals were criticized by Democrats who said the budget would undo early-childhood education and other important programs that were expanded under Democratic former Gov. Ed Rendell, while Republicans were generally supportive.Jake Corman, R-Centre, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said, “I think the budget reflected some tough cuts, but it also reflected some innovative ideas to try to make the people who are receiving state dollars a little more flexible, particularly in the area of education.“There's a lot here to support and we'll work on the areas that we don't necessarily agree on.”Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, agreed with Corbett's argument that everyone who shares the taxpayers' wealth must also share the sacrifices required to balance the budget. But he said the budget seemed to be balanced “on the backs of working people, families and children.”House Democratic Whip Mike Hanna, D-Clinton, a member of the state system's board of governors, said the proposed cuts to higher education could not be made up by higher tuition because that would drive students away, so the schools will “have to look at closing institutions.”Corbett suggested that a voluntary one-year salary freeze for school employees in the state's 500 school districts would save the cash-strapped districts $400 million. Further, he called for ending state support for automatic pay increases that he said most school districts provide as incentives to teachers who earn a master's degree.The budget would direct hundreds of millions more toward state pensions and debt. Spending for social services also would increase due to the rising cost of health care and demand spurred by the recent economic downturn, according to Corbett's budget authors.This current year's $28 billion budget is supported by federal stimulus money and transfers of state surpluses that are not expected to be available next year, producing a potential shortfall next year that officials had estimated at $4 billion.
