Higher+Education+did+best+job+of+making+budget+case.+Others+better+get+going

=By Peter L. DeCoursey= =Published by Capitolwire= =3/12/12= = = = = = = =HARRISBURG (March 12) – The colleges and universities that receive state funding have done such a good job that legislative leaders have already publicly stated restoring some of the budget funds cut from them is a top priority.= = = =K-12 institutions, by comparison, have not yet focused lawmakers on what kind of restorations they want, nor made the case that if there is roughly $200 million or so for restorations, how much they should get.= = = =Significantly, House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, has already taken that position this year after the annual budget hearings ended last week, as he did last year.= = = =Gov. Tom Corbett has proposed more than $220 million in state funding reductions for universities and colleges: 30 percent for Penn State, Pitt and Temple, 20 percent for the state-owned universities and 5 percent for community colleges.= = = ="I think the cuts to higher education are significant," Turzai said. "I'd like to find other places in the budget to look at needed reductions."= = = =House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Adolph, R-Delaware, who often has different, but quieter priorities, than Turzai, has also said university restorations are a top priority as have a number of senators, including Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jake Corman, R-Centre.= = = =But when you ask Corman or Adolph or others just what they want to restore, beyond college funding, no one knows yet.= = = =That is because the K-12 community and the pre-K community have not figured out yet what they will push for.= = = =This is particularly surprising for the early childhood folks, since Corbett came into office promising to double spending. I had thought he was only referring to the purely education part, about $350 million. But Tim Eller of the state Education Department says all $700 million is early childhood education. Not sure that is how Corbett will be defining it next year, but Eller is the education spokesman.= = = =And Corbett promised to double that whole caboodle in his first term. After he has completed one budget and proposed another, if the next budget is enacted as he proposes, early childhood funding will be about where it was when he took office.= = = =Which means that in the next two budgets, Corbett has to find $350 million to “double early childhood spending” or break one of his clearest and most-recorded pledges.= = = =He is going to have a tough time if his 2014 opponent can show Corbett kept neither his anti-tax pledge, citing its authors as proof of that, or one of his very few spending pledges.= = = =But instead of pushing him now, since Corbett really cannot find enough cash to fund that promise in his next two budgets – the businesses waiting for tax cuts are ahead of early childhood in line for the Corbett administration – the early childhood folks are quiet.= = = =The K-12 folks are noisy, but their main goal appears to be a sort of emotional need to get Corbett to admit he cut their funding. That was one of the problems last year: lawmakers thought that was beside the point, since they knew the funding was reduced, and while colleges asked for specific funding reductions, got students and parents to lobby for them, K-12 folks basically got into a losing argument with the governor.= = = =It basically revolved around educators and legislative Democrats arguing that former Gov. Ed Rendell’s “education funding first” program had worked so well Corbett should continue it, and replace with state dollars the federal funds Rendell used during the budget crisis years.= = = =The problem with that is simple: Corbett ran for office saying he was not going to do that, and the state overspent on education and school vouchers were a good idea. And while he is a nice guy, he is probably the most stubborn governor we have had in my lifetime at least.= = = =So anyone expecting a gubernatorial conversion on those issues is also buying Lottery tickets to pay the mortgage.= = = =Now, Corbett has admitted the current budget cuts education by $116 million if you count the higher pension contribution, which since it pays teacher benefits, should count. It’s a $429 million cut if you don’t count the pension funding. But why do educators make the argument that state funding for pensions shouldn’t count as education aid, because it requires a local contribution that goes up when the state dollars do?= = = =If the pensions need to be funded, and they do, then the state needs to hike its funding, and it did. State funding does not have to replace local funding to be valuable or valid. It simply has to meet a basic need. And once you hire a teacher, they get pay and benefits, with pension and health insurance being key benefits.= = = =As to Corbett’s having proposed to cut state education by $529 million since Rendell left office, but raised pension contributions $629 million, ask any educator if teachers are willing to forego their benefits to get more full-day Kindergarten classes? No, is and should be the answer.= = = =But the big point here is that as long as that argument about fairness, justice, math and truth rages, nobody is getting every superintendent and principal who meets with lawmakers to ask them for something in a unified, intelligible way.= = = =That is what the colleges and universities have done. And that is what the K-12 folks and the welfare folks and the other affected communities have not done: unify and figure out a goal the lawmakers might be able to reach.= = = =Of course there still remains a question about what revenues will be available. Like last year, the administration’s revenue estimate – this year it’s a $719 million shortfall – appears to be low, according to the Independent Fiscal Office and other experts.= = = =Budget Secretary Charles Zogby says it is too early to change that estimate and the IFO agrees that should be done in May at the earliest. Revenue Secretary Dan Meuser says unlike last year, the administration will engage in public discussion about that revenue number as it changes.= = = =If the most recent IFO estimate of a shortfall closer to $500 million is right, then we are talking about $200 million or less for restorations. And remember, this governor last year spent about a third of the revenue overflow in the next year’s budget, keeping $500 million in the pot to balance this year’s spending plan.= = = =Which is why the K-12 community, if it wants $100 million for block grants, as it got last year, or some other item, better figure out what it wants fast.= = = =While Turzai still thinks welfare can be cut more, pretty much no one else in the administration or Senate leadership thinks that is likely, though they may wish for it as well.= = = =So the restoration pie this year could be about one-third or less of the $600 million or so they handed out last year once the budget was passed: $400 million in welfare fraud and abuse that mostly turned out to be program reductions and $200 million in revenue over estimate.= = = =And so far, only the colleges and universities have a commitment from the legislative leaders that they will have a seat - fork, knife and plate - at that table when that pie is served.= = = = = = = = = = = =News= =home=