State Representatives Attend Town Hall on Education

Several local lawmakers from both the Pennsylvania state house and senate gathered at West Chester East High School on Thursday to meet with the parents of Chester County School districts to discuss the governor’s proposed budget cuts to education. 

Many of the representatives there expressed dissatisfaction with the governor’s proposed cuts while also realizing that the status quo could not continue.

“Judging from what I hear in Harrisburg, the final budget is going to be different,” said State Representative Tim Hennessey who represents parts of the Owen J. Roberts School District as well as Spring-Ford.  “The budget will be different, but it will also be austere.”

Several representatives also made reference to the fact that the governor’s budget is just a proposal, and that changes will be made.

Representative Chris Ross said, “In all my years I have never seen a governor’s initial budget get passed.  This budget won’t be the first.”

All of the representatives said that drastic cuts are being made in order to replace expiring stimulus dollars.

“The truth is that we simply don’t have the revenue,” said Representative Warren Kampf.  “I’ve heard a lot of things tonight about Marcellus Shale and some other things, but we simply don’t have the revenue.  We don’t have three to four billion dollars.”

Still, many parents who spoke out at the meeting said that Corbett’s plan would “dismantle the public education system in the state.”

Senator Andy Dinniman said, “In my years in the state house I have seen years of benign neglect, but never have I seen active neglect of the public schools.”

Dinniman added, “The Corbett administration is being hostile and dishonest about public schools.”

Several representatives countered Dinniman’s argument by saying that the problem existed before Corbett’s budget proposal.

“In the previous eight years, state spending has gone up 40 percent while the cost of living has only gone up 20,” Hennessey said.

Tom Killian said, “We had to reduce state spending because our stimulus money was expiring.”

However, all of the representatives agreed that the education cuts were extreme and needed to be fixed.

“Education is a high priority,” said Representative Dan Truitt.  “Education leads to innovation, and innovation leads to job creation.”

“We have plenty of time to right the ship,” said Representative Duane Milne.

Several representatives hinted that the house budget proposal would be unveiled early next week, and that significant changes would be made to Corbett’s original proposal.

The legislature has until June 30 to ratify a new budget.