Finding money for public education: Q&A with Sen. Vincent Hughes

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

by Paul Jablow

Democrats in the Pennsylvania Senate introduced their own proposed budget on Monday. Their budget would increase basic education funding statewide by $212 million, compared with the governor’s proposal of $90 million and Republican legislative proposals of $10 million more than that.

This morning, the Notebook sat down with State Sen. Vincent Hughes, ranking minority member of the Appropriations Committee, to discuss that budget and education funding under the Corbett administration. Hughes estimated the Democratic budget would provide $122 million for Philadelphia schools, almost exactly what District officials say is needed from the state to help close a $304 million budget shortfall next year. He called the Senate budget proposal the first step on a path to let the state again fund education "at a level that is appropriate."

Notebook: Is the state really too broke to adequately fund education?

Sen. Hughes: No, it’s not. Absolutely not. We’ve identified some very simple things that can be done to secure the resources necessary to fund education in this budget. And if we do the right things in terms of growing the state’s economy as opposed to having this austerity economy that we’re operating under — cuts, cuts, cuts, no job creation, no development — we can have funds available in the future. There has to be shared sacrifice. Under this administration, the sacrifice has come from working people.

Where will the funds come from?

If you do Medicaid expansion — that offers the state $4 billion a year — it frees up current state spending to go into other areas. It grows the state’s economy by $600 million annually. It’s free money. Take the savings and put it toward education and job development.

You postpone the reduction in the capital stock and franchise tax. That’s about a $360 million break that businesses will get this year. It’s part of the business community sacrificing a little bit to help out.

By modernizing the Liquor Control Board and making [the system] more customer-friendly and price-competitive — greater flexibility and expanded store hours — you could conservatively secure another $100 million.

It’s not complicated stuff. You could use some of [the added revenue] to combat the retreat in education that this administration, this governor have bought into. Those three areas alone, you’re talking about $700 million.

What do the various local players — the Nutter administration, the Council, Superintendent Hite and the School Reform Commission, and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers — have to do to change the climate in Harrisburg for Philadelphia’s educational funding?

They all have been working from their own vantage points to try to indicate to the [Corbett] administration that we’re serious about the education of our students. The mayor has put more skin in the game financially than most mayors. City Council has taken the tough votes to raise local property taxes in the last two years. [SRC Chairman] Pedro Ramos and Dr. Hite have gone through a very difficult and painful process of rightsizing the School District. If we weren’t under such an attack from Gov. Corbett in terms of the dramatic cuts in funding, that process would have been much easier. If we’d had more funding from Harrisburg, we could have been more deliberate.

The PFT has historically tried to figure out ways where they could contribute financially. They’ll be asked to confront those issues again. But the conversation has not been as volatile as it has been in the past.

Have you seen any indication that there are certain things the Republicans want from the PFT?

I haven’t heard about specific givebacks. But obviously we’re living in a very different time from four, five years ago. There’s an aggressive attitude against any public worker. Any worker in the public sector. There’s a growing Tea Party type of attitude. They’re not sympathetic to the important contribution these individuals make.

But we’ve got to allow negotiations to take place at the negotiating table. The issues that some people want to go after, it’s not appropriate for the legislative process. We’re paying very close attention to that. There’s a regular line of communication with [PFT President] Jerry Jordan and the delegation.

Are there indications that Philadelphia is less isolated on this issue than it has been in the past?

Yes. There are a lot of school districts across Pennsylvania that are in the same environment, if not a more difficult environment economically. You look at Harrisburg, you look at Scranton, Allentown, Erie, Reading, and of course Chester.

And there’s probably another 50 or 60 districts who are close to that crisis mode. Seventy percent of the districts in Pennsylvania have raised local property taxes in the last two years. Some of those are middle class and wealthier districts.

What’s the likelihood of restoring the charter reimbursement line?

Our budget proposal puts funds in that area back — $84 million. The cyber charter schools have abused the system. We’ve got to get our heads around that. [The reimbursement line] used to be in the hundreds of millions. That has a disproportionate effect on low-income school districts.