PA Legislature Sends Budget to the Governor

The following is a release from the Pennsylvania Association of Business Officers (PASBO): In stark contrast to the display of partisanship surrounding the 15-16 state budget, tonight the legislature sent a 2016-17 state budget to the governor after lots of talk of compromise and a strong bi-partisan vote in both chambers. Just to recap, the agreed-upon 2016-17 budget includes a $200 million increase for BEF, a $20 million increase for SEF and level-funds RTL at last year's $250 million. While this is definitely an improvement from last year, don't get excited quite yet. In order to actually fund the budget that was just sent to the governor, revenue is needed, and that's the one critical issue that the parties have not yet agreed upon.  The revenue package is likely to be made up of funds from the passage of the liquor bill couple of weeks ago, from new revenue as a result of the "igaming" bill that awaits consideration in the Senate and a cigarette/e-cigarette tax that has not yet materialized. There are also some other options on the table as well, including tax amnesty, increasing the bank shares tax and gross receipts on natural gas. although this is this pretty darn critical piece of the state budget, there is still a lot of uncertainty and no negotiated compromise between the House, Senate and administration as to how to proceed. So, the clock is ticking for everyone to sit down and hash out a plan to fund the budget they just passed... Stay tuned for more on the revenue side of things, as well as more on whatever ends up materializing on a school code bill. We should have more info tomorrow! So I as a common educator, I am to understand that the state legislators have agreed to spend money but have no idea how to generate the revenues to meet the expenditures. This makes sense to whom? Imagine walking into a car dealership and saying to them: "I'm going to spend $25,000.00." They respond, do you have the money? Are you going to get a loan? How do you intend to pay? Imagine your response is: "No, you don't understand. I have planned to spend $25,000.00. I don't have the money or a loan, but can I please have the car?" I have no idea what smoke and mirrors game the state is playing with the budget. Sending a useless spending plan to the governor for the sake of timeliness would be similar to our students doing a research paper the night before it is due, just so they could say it is done! School districts across the state are spending more money, raising taxes, and cutting staff. The logical conclusion is district revenues don't meet district expenditures. The largest single factor is the assessment of the pension burden. Schools are mandated to pay over 30% of an employee's salary toward the state pension. This is in addition to increases in medical insurance. The state further complicates the problem when a fictitious budget is passed by the state legislature. If districts operated like the states, districts would be bankrupt. A spending plan without a revenue plan is arbitrary and unrealistic.