Notes from The Field
Submitted by Frank Murphy, May 5, 2011
Newly elected Governor Corbett has pledged to not raise taxes in the state of Pennsylvania. Consequently, to address a projected budget shortfall, he has proposed 2.6 billion dollars in spending cuts. Over 60% of these cuts will be achieved by slashing allocations to the state’s education budget. This will result in 1.6 billion fewer dollars for the state’s public schools and state-supported universities.
The citizens of our state will not share equally the financial impact of this proposal, however. For college students who attend a state supported university, tuitions are likely to increase by as much as $10,000 per year. This is a quite an additional economic burden for students and their parents. In individual school districts, Corbett’s savings plan will have devastating effects on the quality of education for the state’s public school children, as local districts are forced to make difficult choices to offset the revenue shortfall.
In Philadelphia, for example, two of the many cost reductions proposed by the school administration include eliminating full day kindergarten and transportation for students. These measures most certainly will have a strong financial impact on the parents of local school district children. Changing Kindergarten classes from full day to half-day programs will require many families to assume the burden of paying for child care for half of the school day. This cost could easily amount to several thousand dollars a year per family. The elimination of free transportation will require families to seek out alternative means of getting their children safely to school, at a minimal cost of $500 per year per child.
Although the governor’s promise to not raise taxes will certainly benefit some of Pennsylvania’s citizens, clearly this is not true for families with school age children. While these families are not paying additional taxes, Corbett’s cost-saving measures are surely taxing their family finances. Is it fair for these Pennsylvanians to be subjected to a financial penalty for having school age children?