Activists Mobilize for Corbett's Latest Budget Cuts (several new articles)

[JPZenger]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20120205_Activists_mobilize_ahead_of_Corbett_budget_address.html?viewAll=y

Excerpts:

"Pennsylvania's 500 school districts are still stinging from the 2011-12 state cuts as they try to work out their own budgets with rising pension obligations - expected to jump by 40 percent this year - and increased health-care costs.

The economic picture is bleak for schools. Wealthier districts face the prospect of again raising taxes or cutting more programs or staff. Poorer districts are coming nearer to the once-unthinkable prospect of shutting their doors.

The beleaguered Chester Upland School District ran out of money in January before getting a court-ordered stopgap infusion of state aid. Last week a second district, in York, said it would not be able to meet its payroll after May.

In the wake of state cuts last year, all but 16 of the 63 suburban districts in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties raised taxes - but even that didn't stave off layoffs. In Philadelphia and the surrounding counties, roughly 5,500 school jobs were eliminated."
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Phila. Schools Continue to Face Huge Deficits, Despite Thousands of Job Eliminations

http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20120203_Loss_of_91_school_police_saves_1_percent_of_needed_cuts.html

Excerpts:

"The Philadelphia School District eliminated 91 school police jobs on Friday in a cost-cutting move that brings the total number of city schools without officers to 100. Also cut were eight regional office jobs and six central office jobs. The district faces a $61 million budget hole that must be plugged by June.

The district has had a long-standing problem with school safety. The Inquirer investigative series "Assault on Learning" found that violence in city schools is widespread and underreported, with 30,000 serious incidents over the last five school years. Those findings were corroborated by a district blue-ribbon panel on safety.

Prior to Friday's cuts, district officials had announced they would drastically cut back on summer school, cancel a planned pay raise for nonunionized administrative employees, force them to contribute to their health insurance costs and institute furloughs and pay cuts for some workers. Also possible are cuts to school psychologists and the elimination of spring athletics, instrumental music, gifted programs, and bilingual counselors, though those decisions haven't been finalized.

City Controller Alan Butkovitz, who has questioned the district's financial viability, has estimated the district will need to cut $400,000 a day to make up the $61 million shortfall by June. The district already faces a $269 million budget gap for its 2012-13 fiscal year."

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Half of the school nurses in the Phil. School District have been eliminated in recent years.

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20120201_ap_unionwarnsnurselayoffsendangerphillystudents.html

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The Pittsburgh area public transit system is planning another major round of severe cuts in service. Corbett appointed a knowledgeable commission to resolve shrinking transportation funding and they came up with many reasonable recommendations. However, Corbett refuses to do anything to carry out the recommendations of his own commission.

"The Port Authority is planning to cut 35 percent of its service, including 46 of its remaining 102 routes, and lay off up to 600 employees in September if it doesn't get state help in closing a projected $64 million budget deficit. "Everyone engaged in this issue is waiting to hear what the governor will say about transportation funding," authority CEO Steve Bland said last month."

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1208059-454.stm#ixzz1lZ1iLdeQ

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http://blogs.mcall.com/capitol_ideas/2012/02/sunday-news-analysis-a-look-ahead-to-corbett-budget-ii.html

Excerpts from Allentown Morning Call's Harrisburg correspondent:

"Rep. Markosek asked. "it's premature to really project a big deficit or any kind of surplus. Right now, the revenue is coming in slightly higher than it was in fiscal 2010-11." Markosek's pronouncements mostly were backed up by a report by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York at Albany, which shows state tax revenues nationwide during the third quarter of 2011 grew by a rate of 6.1 percent.

Pennsylvania took in $7 billion in general fund tax revenue during the third quarter of 2010, compared with $7.2 billion during the same time period in 2011, the report shows. Sharon Ward, executive director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, acknowledges that the economy has slowed, hurting revenues. But she asks: "Is it their intent to make it look worse?"

Critics say the administration could have helped the bottom line — at least regarding corporate tax collections — by not providing businesses $200 million in tax breaks. That included allowing businesses to write off the entire cost of their expenses in one year, rather than over several years. The practice is known as "bonus depreciation." "

[Curmudgeoness]

1. Does anyone know what would happen

if a public school district did shut its doors?

I have been thinking of this a lot---many districts in my area are hard pressed and are looking at requests to raise taxes above the limit placed on them recently. And no one can afford the high school taxes that will be required to close the gaps. I keep thinking that if I were on a school board now, it would be a form of protest to just close the doors. But what would happen if this were to come about?

[JPZenger]

2. If the school district is not open for 180 days, they get even LESS State money

[Curmudgeoness]

3. If they just don't teach, they need no money.

But that isn't the point of closing the doors. It would be a protest, and would have to place the burden of what to do about the kids in the district on the state.....or so it seems.

This is kind of a "fuck you" statement, but I don't know how it would be resolved.

We have one very poor district that is looking at well over $1 million deficit---and just no tax base.

[blue neen]

4. Tom Corbett has had a very negative effect on Pennsylvania.

Seriously, what is wrong with this man and his cronies?

Is he actively trying to be the worst Governor we've ever had? If so, he certainly has succeeded, and I'm old enough to remember Milton Shapp!

[durablend]

7. He's a Republican, nuff said

Pretty sure he's hell bent on destroying this state (um...ah..."Commonwealth&quot , but not before he sends all the money to his buddies.

[JPZenger]

5. More details on cuts from Phila. Inquirer

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/state/20120207_Steep_cuts__no_tax_hikes_in_Corbetts__27_1B_budget.html

excerpts:

"...there would be cuts to pre-K and Head Start funding. Corbett also proposed slicing $100 million in accountability block grants to schools, which would translate into a $21.6 millon cut for the Philadelphia School District.

Corbett has said he has had to make difficult fiscal decisions in the face of a lackluster economy, dwindling state revenues and continuing deficits. This fiscal year, the governor and the legislature enacted a budget that decreased spending by 3 percent, primarily by slashing aid for public schools and universities by more than $1 billion and keeping a lid on the rising cost of social and human services.

Higher education appears to be taking the biggest hit, with funding being axed for three of the four state-related universities. Temple University's subsidy would be $98 million, down from nearly $140 million this fiscal year, or a 30 percent decrease; Penn State's funding would dwindle to $163 million from $227 million, a 28 percent decrease; and the University of Pittsburgh, from $136 million to $95 million, a 30 percent decrease.

The 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, including West Chester and Cheyney, would see their funding cut from $412 million to $330 million, a 20 percent decrease."

[JPZenger]

6. Statement from Senator Ferlo

http://www.pasenate.com/?p=7498

Excerpts:

"What I resent most is Corbett’s snake oil medicine which only guarantees that local communities and counties will be forced to raise taxes and millage rates at the local level to fund their obligations to their students and residents. To be clear, the governor has pledged not to raise taxes on the state level, but forces the hand of local municipalities to raise taxes instead.

The governor continues his assault on public and higher education by cutting at least another $400 million in his budget proposal. His shameful retreat from the state’s obligation to fund local schools at a 50 percent level would again force school boards to raise local taxes, cut important educational programs, require tuition increases and more student debt, and lay-off more teachers and professors. Those we hold accountable as the gatekeepers of investments in our future by teaching our children, our schools, are seen as expendable under this budget.

Making matters worse, an unknown amount of subsidy to our local school districts from state government remains outstanding because of creative budgeting tactics which combines line items. While it may make it appear that our local school districts are being level funded, in reality these cuts are more painful, significant reductions.

The governor claims his budget again holds the line on taxes, but in truth, his proposal merely shirks the responsibility of funding Pennsylvania schools and forces local school boards to do his dirty work for him — imposing another round of maximum property tax hikes to make up for budget cuts for which he is responsible.

Bowing to party rhetoric which is big on political dogma and small on facts, the budget again underfunds the Department of Public Welfare, bringing more ill-advised, short sighted and painful cuts to vulnerable families struggling to survive this protracted recession; this, on top of the governor’s already destructive decisions to eliminate AdultBasic and HEMAP, and to drastically undercut SNAP. Corbett is busy vilifying the poor and needy while providing tax breaks for corporations.

While his budget is balanced on the backs of struggling families and school children, it gives another pass to wealthy gas drillers and huge corporations shielding taxable assets in states like Delaware. While poor families, children and seniors are being asked to get by with less, his budget curiously finds enough revenue to hand out another round of corporate tax cuts."



The Republican-dominated legislature has been stalling efforts to impose a moderate tax on gas drillers for several years now. While public pressure is finally forcing the governor to act, his proposal sells our state’s resources short and would trample the rights of communities to implement reasonable zoning limitations.

[PRETZEL]

8. Another budget that places more on the backs of local governments

what I will find interesting in addition to the conversations concerning education funding as it relates to local taxes will be the concept introduced to block grant certain HSDF programs. Can't wait til I see that spreadsheet from DPW.