Corbett to state: Pick your poison

Gov. Corbett's new budget proposal makes drastic cuts to state funding for education and other services while attempting to shroud them in false claims of more flexibility for local communities.

The governor's spending plan does nothing to address Pennsylvania's ranking among the 10 states that spend the least on public education. But by collapsing public education line items into one final (and misleading) number, the governor claims to be giving school districts choices.

In fact, what the governor is allowing them to pick is their poison. If his budget is adopted by the legislature, middle- and low-income communities will have a greater say only about what they will cut - not whether they will cut.

Hobson's choice

School districts will have to choose among sports, arts, chemistry, and libraries. Thousands of students will lose critical tutoring services, full-day kindergarten, and other worthwhile programs currently funded by the state's Accountability Block Grants, which the governor proposes eliminating. This move alone will cost students in Philadelphia $21 million next year.

Meanwhile, the governor's budget address last week failed even to acknowledge that 70 percent of the state's school districts have had to increase their class sizes over the past year, or that scores of school districts across the commonwealth - from York to Harrisburg - are already in dire financial shape.

The governor's budget would similarly "unshackle" local governments by giving them the freedom - or rather the responsibility - to provide for their neediest citizens. Under another block grant program, local governments would be able to "choose" which vulnerable groups to support - their poor, their homeless, or their sick. But they won't be able to help all of them, because they won't get enough money for that.

Disinvestment

Yet again, many communities and school districts, especially those struggling to serve poor children, will choose to raise taxes at the local level. And, as was the case last year, the meager amounts they raise will not be enough to provide quality education and services.

We agree with the governor that revenues have to match expenses. But he and the legislature could have closed corporate tax loopholes to spare children and families from many of these unnecessary budget cuts.

The governor speaks of the need for a strong workforce on the one hand while on the other he is disinvesting in public education, from preschool through college. Where are we headed? The governor's budget turns a deaf ear to the question, forcing local governments to decide how they will hurt children, families, and communities.

Shanee Garner is codirector of education policy for Public Citizens for Children and Youth in Philadelphia. She can be reached at shaneeg@pccy.org