Corbett signs on-time budget

FROM THE MORNING CALL

HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Corbett signed the first on-time budget in nine years at 11:45 p.m. Thursday, 15 minutes before the fiscal year began today.

Flanked by House Republicans who filled the Capitol Rotunda's ornate marble stairs, Corbett said the budget is "a very important first step" to having our fiscal house back in order.

"It spends no more than we have and it doesn't pretend that we have more than we budgeted."

Corbett, who entered the Rotunda with wife Susan at his side, told the assembled lawmakers, "Thank you very much. On behalf of the people of Pennsylvania, thank you very much."

After a frenetic day of activity, Republican legislative leaders and the GOP administration had apparently resolved a last-minute jam over a bill making hard-nosed changes to a state law that limits the ability of school districts to pass most tax increases. Corbett threatened to withhold his signature unless the Legislature sent him the bill.

The majority Republican chamber voted 109-86 late Thursday to approve the bill. It lifts most of the exemptions to a state law known as Act I, which requires school systems to seek voter approval for any tax hike that outpaces inflation.

Under the bill, districts would only be allowed exceptions for increases in special education and pension costs and preexisting school construction debt. Assuming the House passed it, the Senate would also have to vote on the bill.

With the new fiscal year starting Friday, Corbett was expected to sign the fiscal 2011-2012 budget, which reduces current state spending by 3 percent, largely though more than $1.1 billion in cuts to public education and 18 state-supported universities.

The Republican ran for office last year promising to break a cycle of late budgets that dated to the dawn of the Rendell administration in 2003. By 8 p.m. Thursday, Corbett had the key components of the spending plan — the general fund budget and enabling legislation authorizing the state to spend money for it — in hand.

Proponents of the referendum bill said the changes were needed to give voters more control over school district tax increases. The current law has long been criticized for being too porous because the array of about a dozen exceptions had made it easy for districts to pass tax hikes.

The proposal allows for growth in special education and pension costs, but gives taxpayers "the true control that they need," said Rep. Jeff Pyle, R-Indiana, a former teacher.

Democrats said the bill would tie districts' hands, resulting, in the words of Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, in the "dumbing down of school districts."

While legislative and administration negotiators worked to remove the last impediments to securing Corbett's signature, the House spent much of the day engaged in a series of pitched battles over how Pennsylvania should pay for public education and for services for the state's neediest citizens.

The Republican-controlled chamber voted 108-89 early in the afternoon Thursday to approve a sprawling education bill that implements the budget's cuts to K-12 and higher education.

Hours later, the House and Senate gave final approval to a bill transferring authority over hundreds of millions of dollars in public welfare spending from the General Assembly to the administration. The change would allow the Department of Public Welfare to change eligibility requirements, reduce cash assistance and impose higher co-pays.

Democrats cast the move as a power grab undertaken without public discussion. The administration said the sweeping authority was needed because of the state's dire budget situation.

"Given the current fiscal situation in Pennsylvania, the need to swiftly curb spending in a responsible manner has been heightened," said Michael Race, a spokesman for state Welfare Department Secretary Gary Alexander. "The conventional processes simply would be too cumbersome and time-consuming. This truly is a case where time is money."

Activists saw matters quite differently.

"What we're seeing is an awful lot of people, ranging from women to seniors to children to domestic abuse victims, who are going to end up losing the support they so desperately need," Sandra Strauss of the Pennsylvania Council of Churches said.

Race said the proposed changes will be given a public airing and those affected will be given a chance to weigh in on them.

"This administration is dedicated to transparency and providing for those most in need in Pennsylvania," he said.

The debate over the school code bill stretched nearly four hours. One by one, Democrats stepped to the microphone to explain how the cuts would affect their individual school districts.

The new budget scraps an existing state plan, known as the Costing-Out Study, to close the funding disparity between school districts. It pits "the haves against the have-nots," Rep. William Kortz, D-Allegheny said.

But in a year of steep cuts across state government, Democrats should be "grateful that your school districts are getting enough money and that your taxpayers are not being asked to bear the burden," Rep. Kate Harper, R-Montgomery said.

The education bill also provided an 18 percent, or $90 million cut, in state funding for the 14 schools in the Pennsylvania state System of Higher Education, including Kutztown University and East Stroudsburg University.

While lawmakers debated, the system's board of governors approved a $436 tuition increase for the 2011-2012 academic year. The 7.5 percent hike is the largest since 2002-2003, boosting the in-state tuition rate from the current $5,804 to $6,240.


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