Funding

A group of private and local government officials yesterday criticized proposed state legislation that would increase their responsibility for aiding abused children without guaranteeing new funding. In a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Crime and Corrections, a series of witnesses said a bill by Rep. Lois Sherman Hagarty (R., Montgomery) to toughen child-abuse laws offered many improvements over the current statutes. But representatives for the City of Philadelphia, Montgomery County and statewide private organizations said they were worried about the bill because it contained no funding provisions.

When a consortium of Philadelphia-area nonprofit arts groups went hunting for money to continue a campaign promoting the groups' offerings, its leaders could point to a million reasons the consortium deserved more aid. That's one million, as in dollars. Since 2003, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance's "Campaign for Culture" has brought in that much through the sale of half-price tickets. In a free, weekly, e-mail "blast" to 45,000 subscribers, more than 150 GPCA cultural organizations offer tickets that otherwise might go begging.

PNC Bank has begun what will become an annual funding effort to aid performing-arts organizations by providing funding and assistance to productions at four area theaters. The PNC Bank Showcase, according to a bank news release, is designed "to recognize the professional excellence of Philadelphia's performing arts organizations and extend their marketing reach. " Although all the organizations assisted in the first year of the program are theaters, the funding initiative is intended to aid projects in all of the performing arts.

A bill that would put Delaware County's Chester Upland and three other poor school districts in Pennsylvania under state oversight is a Band-Aid that won't cure the larger problem of inadequate state funding for all public schools.   School districts across the state are suffering to various degrees from Gov. Corbett's first budget, which ultimately resulted in an $860 million reduction in funding compared with what they received last year. The situation will only get worse under his budget proposal for next year, with its essentially flat funding for schools and elimination of a $100 million program that funds full-day kindergarten.

What a difference a week can make. Last week, Republican Gloucester County Freeholder Stephen Atkinson was planning to go to bat for the county's volunteer center, which the freeholders had decided would no longer get funding because of this year's $3.5 million budget shortfall. This week, he won't have to. Yesterday, the Democratic freeholders - who hold the board's 4-3 majority - announced they will find a way to allocate $18,000 to help fund the volunteer center through the end of the year.

William Rodriguez began using drugs at age 10 - moving from alcohol and marijuana to a heroin addiction. But today, the 41-year-old is drug-free, working as a program director of Fresh Start Casa Latino - the very recovery house where he once was ordered to live after he entered Philadelphia's Drug Treatment Court. "Now, I do what was done for me," he said. "I pay my bills today, and more importantly, I carry that message of hope to those that have none - much like myself at one time.

Every once in awhile, Congress actually hits upon a sensible way to spend your money. Somehow amid all the pork-barrel proposals to increase funding for mohair subsidies, buttress the salaries of goat herds and prop up the sagging leisure suit industry, the occasional ray of fiscal sanity shines through. Such is the case with respect to the proposal by Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa) and Mark Hatfield (R., Ore.) to create a Medical Research Trust Fund to subsidize the cost of medical research.

State funding has been held up for a proposed commuter rail line between Glassboro and Camden, victim of a troubled Transportation Trust Fund and a tough economy. Then-Gov. Jon S. Corzine promised last year to provide $500 million to the Delaware River Port Authority for the $1.5 billion, 18-mile rail line. The money was to come from the Transportation Trust Fund, which is funded with gas-tax revenues and borrowed money. The DRPA was counting on up to $9 million of that aid to pay for an environmental impact statement that is required before work can proceed on the rail line.

The Philadelphia School District last week made a deal with Gov. Ridge's administration that will keep schools open through the end of the next academic year and avert a state takeover of the 212,000-student system. But the deal will not be final until the city finds a way to contribute $20 million more to the schools, as Mayor Street has pledged. Some City Council members are skeptical of the deal and unconvinced that the city should provide the money. They are scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. tomorrow to grill district officials about the school system's finances.

Delaware County family for centuries before the township bought it in 1989, have been stalled by a funding Catch-22. Township Council and Historical Commission members say they need more grant money or donations to pay for restoration of the 18th-century farmhouse. Members of the Historical Commission, turned down by the Pew Charitable Trusts for a $200,000 restoration grant for Collen Brook, say future applications also will be rejected unless the township does something to fix the farm and open it to the public.