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EDITORIAL Being on time not good enough this budget year

3 min read
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The news Sunday that a lack of shouting in Harrisburg might bring with it the first on-time, controversy-free state budget of the Wolf administration is a modest glimmer of hope.

Merely passing a budget on time, and seeing Gov. Tom Wolf for the first time in his term signing it, would be nice but not sufficient.

To make this a truly good budget year, Republican leaders in the Legislature and our Democratic governor should waste no time in agreeing to school funding – a state budget responsibility, more than one-third of state spending most years, called for specifically in Article III, Section 14 of the state constitution.

School districts, which rely on state funds, must pass their budgets by June 30. It’s a disservice to school boards and their constituents when state leaders enact a budget right at the deadline or late.

State lawmakers should make it a priority to agree to a specific education budget by June 15, promising to iron out any remaining disagreements without touching school spending.

School districts, and the children learning in their buildings, deserve the stability of their state funding being a known quantity.

While they’re at it, state leaders should do as much as possible to move toward the more equitable formula recommended in the 2015 report of the Basic Education Funding Commission. … The state is moving all too slowly toward reaching the commission’s goal of an education funding formula that takes reality into account, rather than the so-called hold-harmless approach that protects school districts with declining enrollments from reductions in aid. This delay is depriving school districts of the funds they need and their children deserve.

So why is Pennsylvania likely to see a smoother budget process this year?

The cynical answer is that Wolf faces re-election in November, giving him a strong incentive to find a way to agree, playing to Pennsylvania voters’ traditionally low expectations by keeping the ship of state sailing smoothly through calm waters.

A better explanation is that conditions are better. The economy is humming, with the state unemployment rate below 5 percent. Revenue projections are modestly above estimates for the first time in Wolf’s tenure, with personal income taxes leading the way.

House Majority Leader Dave Reed recently summed up the change well: “You’re not talking about billion-dollar deficits anymore.”

Policy differences remain. Wolf wants to add two sources of revenue that Republicans rejected in past negotiations: a new tax on natural gas extraction and a $25-per-person fee for state police coverage in areas without their own full-time police forces.

There’s also likely to be disagreements about how to improve the safety of public schools, with proposals including restrictions on gun purchases, more police in schools and allowing teachers to be armed.

Our leaders can have those arguments but should have them soon, in a way that won’t disrupt the learning inside those buildings we’d all like to see better secured against violence.

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