April 17, 2013
Harrisburg, April 17, 2013 – Senate Democrats’ 2013-14 budget priorities are heavily weighted toward job creation, education investments, strengthening the social-services safety net, modernizing liquor sales and refocusing Pennsylvania’s business tax menu to help small businesses, they announced today at a Capitol news conference.
Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) said that Senate Democrats will go into this year’s budget negotiations with a clear purpose and “are resolved that the state’s economy must be jump-started. New jobs must be created and we have to reverse the negative course that the Corbett administration has plotted for Pennsylvania on education and protecting our most vulnerable.”
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“We have an opportunity and a responsibility to seek new investments and use resources that are available to change policy direction during this year’s budget negotiations.”
Costa said Senate Democrats believe that more than 120,000 jobs can be created quickly by enacting a responsible transportation plan, expanding Medicaid and using economic development policies outlined in their PA Works plan.
Costa was joined by a host of Senate Democrats in making today’s announcement.
Sen. Vincent Hughes, who serves as the Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that by taking action now on key economic initiatives then restoring job creation and community programs to their past luster — before Corbett budgets sliced them to the core — is an excellent starting point.
“We need to start creating jobs right now and we can do that by working on transportation and Medicaid expansion,” Hughes (D-Philadelphia/Montgomery) said. “These initiatives coupled with rebuilding water and sewer systems, investing in schools and new technologies will create economic growth immediately.
“In addition, by investing in programs such as Main Street, Elm Street and international business we can help small business here while they market their products abroad.,”
Democratic Whip Sen. Tony Williams (D-Philadelphia/Delaware) said that the caucus was turning up the heat on the Corbett administration on jobs, health care, education and social safety net issues because the governor has failed to lead.
“We’ve outlined reasonable strategic policy alternatives that will reverse direction and provide a new path and we’ve identified revenues that will pay for the proposed expenditures,” Williams said. “Pennsylvania is rudderless on job creation and our economic numbers and business indicators under this administration illustrate the problem.
“Our most vulnerable can also not withstand another senseless round of Corbett cuts and we have to restore programs that promote help for those in need.”
Williams said that Pennsylvania is now 43rd in job creation, falling from eighth place among all states under Gov. Ed Rendell’s leadership. Plus, he said, last month’s unemployment claims fell nationally to below 350,000 but, because of Corbett policy short-sightedness, Pennsylvania led the country in new unemployment claims.
Senate Democrats said that they have laid out specific plans to achieve results in the 2013-14 budget in five areas. These include: strategic investments to create jobs; improving education; repositioning business taxes while closing business tax loopholes; modernizing the wine and spirits stores; and repairing and protecting social safety net programs.
The caucus leaders said that they’ve noted at least $750 million in annual savings, plus another $150 million in one-time revenues. They also said that we need to find resources to pay for specific new expenditures including $225 million for basic education, $50 million to aid distressed cities and communities, $40 million for transitional housing and homeownership among other items, and funds for new tax credits for a variety of areas including film production.
Democrats said that priority details include a three-year phase in of new monies to restore education dollars and key student-performance based initiatives that were cut by the Corbett administration in the last two budgets.
They also said that they would emphasize rebuilding struggling communities through their Growth, Progress and Sustainability (GPS) plan; seek new funds for transitional housing and new homeownership opportunities; and push for modernizing the wine and spirits stores rather than the opt for the risky privatization scheme that has been sought by the Corbett administration.
The Democrats indicated that they expected the negotiations to become more focused once the Senate returns to session in late April.
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June 30, 2012
HARRISBURG, June 30, 2012 — State Senator Judy Schwank said today that while the new state budget achieves an appropriate funding level, she voted against it because it fails to properly fund important programs and services.
“This is a pass-the-buck budget” said Schwank, “It pushes costs down to local government and counties and, ultimately, the taxpayer.”
But while she opposed the budget, Schwank said many of the budget related bills make important changes that she was pleased to vote for.
She noted, as an example, that additional funding will be provided to financially distressed school districts, including $3.7 million for Reading. To ensure the money is properly spent, the bill includes Schwank’s language requiring the distressed funding money allocated to Reading is subject to review by the Department of Education and the local Intermediate Unit. She also supported legislation that expands the Education Improvement Tax Credit.
Schwank said she also voted for an inheritance tax exemption on transfers of agricultural properties between family members, as well as to incubate new industries and thousands of new jobs in the state with tax credits to develop a natural gas cracker plant in western Pennsylvania.
“These are things we need to do,” she said, “but right now it’s as if our economic plan is nothing but Marcellus Shale, and that’s not enough.”
“We are a commonwealth of many job sectors. We need to take steps to help all of them.”
June 8, 2012
READING, June 8, 2012 — As school districts across Pennsylvania struggle with gaping budget deficits and subsequent cuts in staff and programs, state Sen. Judy Schwank joined local public school advocates today to introduce her resolution that calls on the governor to develop a comprehensive legislative plan to improve basic education.
The resolution recommends that the governor establish an advisory commission made up of parents, teachers, school administrators, higher education leaders, business leaders, and legislators to examine the issue and make specific recommendations.
“For several years we have allowed a budget process to dictate the direction of basic education in Pennsylvania. It’s time we consider the future of education in a thoughtful and deliberative process,” Schwank said. “My resolution calls on Gov. Corbett to empanel a team of experts to study education in the commonwealth and to make specific recommendations to address specific issues.”
School districts across the state are facing financial issues due to funding cuts and the end of federal stimulus funding. Locally, Reading School District is laying off more than 100 teachers and eliminating an additional 60 teaching position in the face of a $40 million budget deficit.
“No child should have to fight for their education. Their job is to go to school, study hard, engage in activities and make lifelong memories with their friends,” Schwank said. “Instead, they are losing their teachers and various programs. Schools are closing around them. It’s shameful.”
Schwank said the committee should look at a range of issues, including the current education funding formula and alternative funding sources; the issue of property tax reform and how to sustainably fund education in the next 10 to 20 years; how to maintain local direction of schools while maximizing effective use of funds; determine which programs are essential for a 21st century model of public education; how to address schools in fiscally distressed communities; explore revising the PA school code and recommend shared services and school consolidation options.
“This is one issue where every Pennsylvania citizen is a stakeholder, so the Corbett administration’s vision for public education should be clear,” Schwank said. “At the same time, the public should play a key part in determining its future. Education is just too important to impose an agenda without giving citizens a voice.”
Representatives from several local school districts spoke in support of the senator’s resolution and the need to discuss education funding methods, especially as school districts across the state are struggling to balance budgets.
“In my 17 years as a teacher I’ve never seen anything this dire. We’re struggling to repair antiquated equipment so students can get basic understanding of their education,” said Rik Immendorf, a high school physics teacher at Reading High School. “I fully support the need to have those of us on front lines on a commission, and not just political pals talking about school districts. We shouldn’t balance the budget on the backs of students and that’s what Gov. Corbett is doing right now.”
“What we’re seeing today is a movement on the part of some to become somewhat elitist on who we educate,” said Dr. Martin Handler, superintendent of Brandywine Heights School District. “This is a terrific first step, having people who work in education make the recommendations and plans for education. I believe allowing people who have expertise to develop plans is the way to go.”
Handler said school districts are even being forced to cut education even at the most basic level — early education.
“All research shows that’s where students sustain greatest amount learning,” Handler said. “Financial challenges are forcing school districts to reconsider funding full-day kindergarten. That’s unconscionable and will have negative affects far into future.”
Exeter School Board member Carole Kutscher said her district’s long-range plans like full-day kindergarten and a successful high school co-op program have been compromised because of school funding cuts.
“I think it’s just ridiculous… it’s almost criminal,” Kutscher said. “No business would operate this way.”
Mitch Hettinger, a middle school teacher in the Reading School District, said the education cuts also impact schools’ brightest students, who will likely go on to college and contribute back to their community.
“These students are motivated to go out and do things in our community. Our students go to college, get their education degree and they come back to the City of Reading to work in the school district they love, only to be laid off because of the cuts that Gov. Corbett forced on students,” Hettinger said. “I think this is an outstanding concept and I am 100 percent in favor of it.”
“It goes beyond Reading. Like most urban school districts, we’re at the tipping point as to what’s going to happen,” said Reading School Board member James Washington. “We’re all going to be suffering.”
Samantha Matthies, a 2012 graduate of the Berks Career and Techology Center, argued for the importance of arts programs in schools.
Matthies recently won the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s annual radio public service announcement contest for high-school students. This year’s theme was discouraging distracted driving.
Commenting on the ornate Capitol in Harrisburg that she recently visited, she said. “Art is right in the Capitol building. Why can’t it be in our schools? It’s what keeps passion in our world. It’s just as important as the mandatory classes you have to take and it should be in our schools.”
“Sam is just one example of what we’re turning out in our schools in Berks County and in the commonwealth and we’re watching it all erode by budget fiat,” Schwank said. “That’s not the way to plan for success. I think basic education deserves to be studied.”
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May 8, 2012
May 8, 2012 – At a rally today in Harrisburg, people with disabilities, advocates, families, service organizations and supporters called on the state legislature to oppose the proposed 20 percent in state budget cuts to programs that support individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Sen. Shirley Kitchen (D-Phila.) said individuals with intellectual disabilities thrive when they receive ongoing support, and community-based services are crucial and needed more than ever.
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“You would think that we’d want to secure more funding for the programs that help this population of individuals. Instead, it has become one of the governor’s targets for budget,” Kitchen said. “I am outraged that this administration has yet again put its sights on the Department of Public Welfare to make debilitating cuts.”
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February 7, 2012
HARRISBURG, Feb. 7, 2012—State Sen. Judy Schwank today said that, for a second straight year, the governor’s Pennsylvania budget proposal calls for short-sighted cuts and no long-term solution for moving Pennsylvania forward.
“Once again, we have been offered a budget proposal that focuses more on short-sighted cuts than long-term strategic investment,” Schwank said of the $27.14 billion 2012-13 state budget. “The budget proposal announced today fails to foster job creation, close corporate tax loopholes or find a long-term transportation infrastructure funding solution.
“While the governor’s budget proposal includes no state tax increases, we will certainly feel the pain of the budget cuts in our wallets,” Schwank said. “School districts are once again victims of the budget. They will be forced to cut programs, lay off more educators, and turn to the taxpayers to make up the difference through property tax hikes.”
“Higher education has also become a target of significant budget cuts,” Schwank said. “These cuts will not only hurt the quality of education that our colleges and universities provide, but also put an affordable college education further out of reach for too many families.
“Foreign companies will continue to take advantage of the Delaware Loophole and avoid paying taxes to this commonwealth, but the middle class will be forced to empty their pockets at a time when money is already so tight,” she said.
Schwank said she has seen the consequences of failing to assist existing local businesses that want to expand and create jobs.
“When we turn our backs on the businesses that want to be here, they are lured away to other states, and we lose,” she said. “In the coming months I will be working with my senate colleagues to develop a more sustainable and responsible budget.”
Schwank delivered the Senate Democratic Caucus response to the governor’s budget address, which can be viewed online.
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June 29, 2011
HARRISBURG –– State Senator Judy Schwank (D-Berks) said she voted against the 2011-2012 state budget passed Tuesday by the Senate because of its failure to support vital programs for education, job growth and the environment.
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