Pennsylvania Governor Proposes $400 Million Education Boost

HARRISBURG, Penn. — Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, who will seek reelection this year, has announced considerable education funding increases in his upcoming budget.

“Education is the largest single item in my budget,” Corbett said Tuesday. “The increase I propose would bring direct state support of public education to $10.1 billion, more than 40 percent of state spending.”

Corbett proposed to allocate $400 million more to public school funding than he has in previous years, including $20 million for special education and $25 million to help students receive higher education. However, many state lawmakers are attributing the shift to election year politics, as all eight of Corbett’s democratic challengers are also calling for increases in education spending.

A poll released recently by F&M showed Pennsylvania voters care greatly about the state’s investment in education. Nineteen percent of polled voters ranked education as their top concern, a number bested only by unemployment and personal finances, which 26 percent of polled voters chose as their top issue.

The state’s previous Governor Ed Rendell pumped over $1 billion in stimulus funds into Pennsylvania’s education initiatives before leaving office in 2010, the final year such funding was available. When Corbett came into office in 2011, the state was facing down a $4.2 billion funding deficit. The new Republican governor proceeded to make deep cuts in education funding in an attempt to narrow the gap, a move that has not been forgotten. Political opponents and educators alike have since accused the governor of neglecting poor school districts. However, Governor Corbett maintains that those cuts were the result of those expired federal stimulus funds, and that state education funding is actually higher than it has ever been at $5.5 billion.

Without the benefit of the stimulus funds, Corbett signed off on a 2011 budget which eliminated well over $400 million from the state’s basic education funding. Additional cuts impacted the state’s charter school reimbursement program, Accountability Block Grants and higher education spending. In that same year the governor was also forced to double school-employee pension contributions to more than $300 million as the result of new legislation.

However, in his following budgets Corbett has worked to restore these funds. He added nearly $172 million to basic education funding and roughly $100 million to the state’s Accountability Block Grants.

To show his support for education, Corbett has also thrown his weight behind HB 1738, which would create a commission tasked with developing a new and improved statewide education funding formula. According to Corbett, as well as education advocates, the current system is unfair and needs to be changed. Additionally, the governor has said he would increase pre-kindergarten education funding by an estimated $10 million.

Both the Pennsylvania House and Senate are set to begin budget hearings on Feb. 10.