Two years of drastic budget cuts have left many essential public services in a critical state. Public education from Kindergarten all the way up to college has been slashed. Last year, funding for county human services was cut by 10%. Local governments and school districts are struggling to make up for the shortfalls. In many ways our state is on life support.
True to form, Governor Corbett’s proposed budget this year reflected his priorities of providing tax breaks to corporations over funding the education, health care and services Pennsylvanians’ need.
However, because of the action of many of our members and a wide range of other progressive organizations, the final 2013-2014 state budget will stop the hemorrhaging. Still, we have a long recovery before we are in a stable condition again.
Here’s a quick post-mortem on the final budget deal:
- Overall spending levels in the budget increase 2.3% over last year.
- Funding for K-12 education statewide increases $122.5 million, but that still leaves in place the 81% cut to state funding for public schools put in place since Governor Corbett took office.
- The Accountability Block Grants that fund pre-K, full-day kindergarten and tutoring programs did not get an increase this year, leaving it with still less than half the funding it had in 2010.
- State universities also did not get an increase to offset any of the 22% cut the system endured two years ago.
- Medicaid funding increased slightly, but the State House effectively blocked an expansion of Medicaid that would have drawn down hundreds of millions of dollars from the Federal government and created tens of thousands of jobs.
- Funding for programs for people with disabilities and child care increased by double digit percentages in many places in the budget, but the block grant program piloted last year that cuts county human services funding by 10% is being expanded to more counties this year.
- Growth in prison spending continues to outpace growth in education funding nearly 2 to 1.
For considerably more detail, get the full scoop from our friends at the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center.
On the positive side, the legislature made some small moves to close a few of the main corporate tax loopholes that we have sought an end to over the last few years – including the Delaware Loophole. Unfortunately, at the same time the legislature created new tax breaks for banks, gas drillers, and people that own private planes.
Pennsylvania’s prognosis is uncertain, and the leadership in the legislature – and our Governor – doesn’t seem to have a plan for improving our outlook. It will take the continued effort of us, the front line caregivers of Pennsylvania, to turn our state around.