News Release
July 1, 2013
“The budget bill signed by Gov. Corbett last night may have been on time but was not in line with what Pennsylvanians want or need.," said AFTPA President Ted Kirsch. He continued:
“The $120 million in additional funding over last year’s budget barely makes a dent in replacing nearly $3 billion in state education cuts that have resulted in districts closing schools, raising class sizes, reducing academic course offerings, cutting art, music and sports and eliminating libraries, nurses and counselors. If Pennsylvania continues to restore the billion-dollar-a-year-budget cuts at this rate, thousands of children in communities across the commonwealth will go from kindergarten through graduation without ever having had an advanced placement course, a music teacher, an art class, a class trip to a museum or the tutoring or health screening they needed.
“The 2013-2014 is a major disappointment. It leaves state funding for early-childhood programs down 25 percent since the governor took office; state funding for public K-12 schools down nearly 20 percent and state funding for our colleges and universities down 19 percent.
“With each budget, this administration pushes Pennsylvania backwards in terms of building our infrastructure, our tax base and our workforce. Last week, thousands of parents, students and educators from across the state rallied at the Capitol to deliver a message to our leaders that we care less about having a budget delivered on time than having a budget that reflects our hopes and priorities for our children and for their futures.”