Montgomery County Democrats bash Corbett budget, agenda
Keith Phucas
Times Herald
May 20.2011
COURTHOUSE — Democratic lawmakers took turns decrying Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed state budget that they claim would cripple public schools, social services agencies and cut jobs.
Gathering at the Montgomery County Courthouse Thursday with Commissioner Joseph M. Hoeffel were Pennsylvania legislators Sen. Daylin Leach, Senate Appropriations Chair Vincent Hughes, Rep. Mike Gerber, Rep. Josh Shapiro and Rep. Tim Briggs.
Corbett’s proposed $27.3 billion budget reduces government spending by 3 percent, which includes about $1 billion in education cuts. And the budget, which some have called draconian, reduces funding to higher education.
Leach said the governor’s proposed cuts combined with his “voucher bill,” if implemented, would hurt the state’s poorest school districts by overcrowding classrooms and eliminating computers, physical education, art and music classes and kindergarten.
“This would be a third world education,” he said.
And Leach blamed some of the governor’s out-of-state contributors — Amway heir Betsy DeVos, the Koch brothers and the Walton family (Wal-Mart) — for their undue influence in advocating school vouchers.
“Their agenda is the elimination of all public schools, or what they call ‘government schools’,” he said.
Shapiro, who is running for county commissioner, called Corbett’s budget “cowardly.”
“It is cowardly because he is unwilling to make his friends or the well-heeled in Pennsylvania pay their fair share,” he said. “Instead he wants to put the burden on the backs of those without lobbyists, of those without means and of those without major donations to give his gubernatorial coffers."
However, in April The Commonwealth Foundation, a conservative Harrisburg think tank, pointed to millions spent by lobbyists going to bat for public schools.
Preliminary results from extensive Open Records requests found more than $59 million dollars of taxpayer money being funneled through taxpayer-funded public school districts directly to organizations frequently involved in lobbying against the interests of taxpayers and underserved children, according to the think tank.
The Commonwealth Foundation issued Open Records requests to all 500 Pennsylvania school districts for information on all payments including dues, insurance and add-on services over the course of the 2009-2010 school year to the American Federation of Teachers, Pennsylvania State Education Association, Pennsylvania School Boards Association, Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, Pennsylvania Middle School Association and a half dozen other school personnel unions.
The full list of payments to lobbyists by school districts can be found at www.CommonwealthFoundation.org/Lobbying.
Republican state Rep. Todd Stephens, who introduced a budget amendment to fund autism, rape crisis centers, domestic violence centers and breast cancer screenings, isn’t surprised by the Democrats criticism of fiscal restraint.
“It’s almost laughable that after spending us into oblivion for over eight years, that they are going to complain when we try to fix the mess they created,” he said.
Stephens said the governor’s budget proposes closing Harrisburg’s $4.2 billion deficit.
Republican Commissioner Bruce L. Castor Jr. said the same Democrats who were complaining Thursday outside the courthouse served during Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell’s administration and share partial responsible for the state’s current economic woes.
“Makes me think of the story of the guy who murdered his parents, and then asked the judge for leniency because he was an orphan,” he said. “The last thing we need is the Harrisburg politicians responsible for this mess telling Montgomery County what to do.”
A favorite recurring theme of Democratic lawmakers is to call for taxing Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling companies, who they say don’t pay their “fair share,” and most of the legislators mentioned the gas drillers during their speeches.
Yet since 2006, the natural gas and related industries have paid more than $1.1 billion in state taxes, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue.
And Pennsylvania counties with 150 or more Marcellus Shale wells realized an 11.36 percent increase in state sales tax collections between 2007 and 2010, according to the Commonwealth Foundation, while counties with no wells being drilled lost 6.55 percent in tax money.
The state expects to receive $60 million in royalties from drilling on state-owned lands in fiscal year 2011-12. And in the past six years, the gas industry has paid out more than $7 billion in lease and royalty payments, which are taxable by the state.
Local communities also benefit from increased property values, local hotel taxes and processing fees. In 2010, Bradford County received an estimated $1 million from the drilling industry through minor revenue streams such as recording and copying fees.
While state law requires drilling companies to repair damaged roads, The Marcellus Shale Coalition estimates the industry paid out $200 million in privately funded road repairs last year. And according to the Commonwealth Foundation, those industry-funded road improvements are saving local governments money and providing transportation funding far above what these communities receive from the state.
This week, the state House Appropriations Committee endorsed an alternative to Corbett’s budget plan, which would increase education spending above levels the governor has proposed, according to The Associated Press.
Under the new plan, higher education funding would be about $380 million higher than governor proposed, and spending for public schools would rise by $243 million to ensure every school district receives at least as much state aid as in the 2008-2009 school year.
The state legislature must approve a final budget be June 30.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.