Already, a little bit of daylight can be seen between the governor and his party's top legislative leaders on such potential flash points as state aid to colleges and the lingering question of whether to tax extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale.
In his first budget address Tuesday, Corbett proposed eliminating $625 million, or 52 percent of state aid, for the 18 state-supported schools - Temple and Lincoln Universities among them.
In the aftermath, a stunned Pennsylvania State University president Graham Spanier laid out a bleak scenario, saying that if the budget were adopted as proposed, students could expect a tuition increase, faculty and staff layoffs, and program cutbacks. He said closing some of Penn State's smaller campuses was not out of the question.
"The proposal would be the single largest percentage state cut in the history of American public education," Spanier said in an interview Friday. "Make no mistake: 52 percent is a staggering number for us."
Spanier, who said he had been prepared for a "single-digit" reduction in funding, described the $182 million cut from Penn State's appropriation as having "the appearance of eliminating higher-education funding."
He says he intends to make the case for a smaller cut when he testifies at a Senate budget hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
Lawmakers from both parties say they are hearing from alumni and students, mothers and fathers. "Parents are panicked," said Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery). "For many, this will make the difference between their children going to college or not."
Penn State's sprawling main campus happens to be in the district of a key state senator, Jake Corman.
