Think of it as the opening salvo of budget negotiations: Gov. Corbett is scheduled to outline his budget proposal tomorrow morning before a joint session of the state House and Senate.
The first time those budget packets go out, pages start flipping. House and Senate members will be looking for their school districts.
“If that’s not the first thing they do, it’s the second thing they do,” said Philadelphia Democratic Sen. Vincent Hughes.
This year, the question he and his fellow lawmakers are asking isn’t if the proposed funding for school districts has been cut – but by how much?
“Personally, I don’t think we can go back into the schools,” said Republican Representative Jeff Pyle, of Armstrong County. “I think last year was enough. So we have to look at different places to cut.”
Pyle said he’s eyeing the Department of Public Welfare for additional reductions. Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi agreed the DPW is a likely target, though he’s not ruling out cuts to education, either.
“What particular lines are impacted, we’ll have to wait until the governor’s budget address to see, exactly, but it will be a bare bones type of a budget presentation,” said Pileggi. “I don’t expect to see new programs or new spending of any sort.”
Gov. Corbett has been managing expectations for the past several weeks when it comes to his budget plan. He has repeatedly pointed to the state’s tax collection pot coming up $500 million short so far this year.
Hughes said Senate Democrats question whether that’s used too readily as an excuse to make deep spending cuts.
“The internal dialogue that we’ve been having is questioning the budget projection may be a little bit too high,” said Hughes.
Education advocates have recently rallied in the Capitol for a reprieve from the kind of funding reduction schools saw last year. Labor groups have presented cost-savings proposals they say could stave off millions in cuts.
But Pileggi warns some so-called savings proposals are just tax increases by another name – something the governor, and the Republicans who control the Legislature, are firmly against.
“It’s very clear to us that the majority of Pennsylvanians, while they would like to have more resources available for good programs, do not want to increase their tax burden,” said Pileggi.
