Tom Corbett wasn’t lying.
He said the day of reckoning was coming in Pennsylvania. He said there would be pain.
There is lots of it.
Corbett rolled out his first budget yesterday. It was not pretty.
The governor, saying he was delivering something not seen in Harrisburg in a long time – a reality-based budget – wants to slash more than $1 billion from public education, eliminate 1,500 state jobs, half of those in mental-health services.
Corbett said he had a message for Pennsylvania taxpayers: “We get the picture. It’s your money,” the governor said. “I said we’d cut. I’m not asking you to read my lips. I’m asking you to read my budget.”
Corbett lived up to his campaign pledge of not raising taxes.
Among those taking the biggest hit under the Corbett plan would be higher education, specifically the four state-related schools, including Penn State, Temple and Lincoln, which would see a 50 percent reduction in state aid.
The fear is that all these cuts will result in “trickle-down” tax cuts. Local school districts, with less state aid, will be forced to raise property taxes. To that end, Corbett called for a cap on tax hikes at the local level and putting anything exceeding the rate of inflation before the voters.
He even went so far as to ask the state’s teachers to voluntarily take a one-year pay freeze.
Hope he’s not holding his breath on that one.
To see how local educators are reacting, check out Tim Logue’s piece today.
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