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Pennsylvania education funds cut

Published Apr 1, 2011 7:59 PM

Demonstrating once again that his top priority is to boost corporate profits at the expense of Pennsylvania workers and poor, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett’s budget for 2011-12 contains $1.65 billion in funding cuts to education — but it increases funding for prisons and police by $1.9 billion.

In the spirit of the workers and students in Wisconsin, protests against Corbett’s proposed budget cuts are taking place across the state. Hundreds of teachers, students and parents mobilized by the Teacher Action Group in Philadelphia have protested outside the school district offices to demand equitable funding.

Two demonstrations are planned for March 30 to protest the governor’s budget, including a noontime student rally at Temple University and a 4 p.m. rally for “Education, Not Incarceration,” starting at Philadelphia Municipal Court at 13th and Filbert streets.

The proposed budget completely eliminates funding for many important programs that benefit poor and working class children. Low-income school districts across the state, many of them in African-American communities, will be hardest hit if Corbett’s plan to cut state Basic Education Funding by $550 million goes through.

The budget would eliminate an existing state policy that now reimburses public school districts that lose revenue when students get vouchers to attend private charter schools. The budget calls for a $224 million cut in the reimbursement program.

The proposed cuts are not spread equitably. Some schools with the greatest student poverty rates face cuts of more than $35,000 per classroom, while schools in the state’s wealthiest districts face cuts of less than $2,500 per classroom.

Already ranked among the worst states in the U.S. in not covering its share of education costs, Pennsylvania’s portion would drop to 37 percent if Corbett’s cuts go through. Many other states pay close to 50 percent of total costs.

The cuts won’t save taxpayers any money, since local school districts will be forced to pick up the tab. For the state’s poorest school districts, this extra burden will mean teacher layoffs if not outright closure of schools. The proposed cuts may also force school districts to end all-day kindergarten, putting an additional burden on working parents.

In addition to the draconian cuts proposed for pre-K-to-12 education, state funding for Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities and four “state-related” universities, including Temple University and Lincoln, would be cut by $625 million — about 50 percent.

Penn State College stands to lose more than 50 percent of its state funding. At the same time, Corbett has proposed spending $400 million on a new, 4,000-inmate facility at Graterford prison. The project would include expansion of the prison’s death row.

Pennsylvania’s prison industry spends from $32,000 per capita for young prisoners to $200,000 per capita for older prisoners each year. The state incarcerated four times as many people in 2011 as it did 20 years ago, despite a drop in overall crime.

Ironically, the most efficient and humane solution to cutting crime and reducing prison costs is to provide greater access to education, and more and better paying jobs. Education funding cuts will also mean the elimination of jobs for teachers and school support staff.

Shortly before releasing his March 8 budget, Corbett “quietly and unilaterally approved an estimated $200 million in tax breaks for businesses ... by adopting new federal tax rules.” Businesses would be allowed to “write off the entire cost of expenses in one year, rather than spreading the write-off out over several years.” (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, March 5)

Corbett refused to consider a tax on natural gas drilling that could generate nearly $570 million by 2015. The state also has a so-called “Delaware loophole,” allowing corporations with headquarters elsewhere to avoid paying taxes in Pennsylvania.