Critical days for the state budget

This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.

Governor Rendell is hopeful for action by early next week on the long-delayed state budget, with as much as $300 million in state aid for Philadelphia schools hanging in the balance. Informal legislative negotiations are underway, with a House-Senate conference committee slated to form on Monday.

Meanwhile, the state secretary of education has reminded the legislature and others that if Pennsylvania’s federal stimulus funds for education are not budgeted to boost school funding as the governor proposes, the state could destroy its chance to compete for hundreds of millions more in federal "Race to the Top" funds announced by the President today. The version of the budget passed by the state Senate would have instead used the federal stimulus dollars to supplant and free up state funds, while freezing education funding at last year’s levels.

On paper it doesn’t look like the logjam on the budget is any closer to being resolved. The Republican-led Senate still wants to spend about $2 billion less than the governor and the Democratic-controlled House. Those opposed positions were reaffirmed by votes this past week, with the Senate voting again Monday for a budget a lot like the one they approved in May, with cuts to education and other areas and the House rejecting those cuts in a vote on Tuesday.

While one might assume the conference committee would lead to the two sides meeting each other halfway, the House position may have the upper hand. State Sen. Vincent Hughes of Philadelphia had this to say about the House vote rejecting the Senate’s approach:

The vote was 150-49, meaning that dozens of Republicans in the House have heard loud and clear from education and health-care professionals that the budget they once supported would mean local property tax increases, job losses and hospital closings. The vote is a repudiation of drastic cuts to our most vulnerable citizens, and marks a breakthrough in the three-week-old budget stalemate.

Only one Democrat voted to support the Republican budget in the Senate. But there is no consensus yet about where the money will come from to support a budget of $29 million or more as supported by the Democrats. Gov. Rendell’s proposal for a temporary increase in the state income tax, while backed by many advocacy groups, has not gone anywhere in the legislature so far.

Education advocates have been working to win support both for a reaffirmation of the principle of a school funding formula by the legislature this year and for a $418 million increase in state basic education funding proposed by the governor – the second installment in a planned six-year effort to meet funding adequacy targets. Advocates from groups like PCCY are now targeting key senators across the region to encourage them to support a child-friendly budget.