Corbett spares Lincoln while cutting other Pa. colleges
February 7, 2012
By Elizabeth FiedlerAdditional reporting by Tom MacDonald
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, flanked by Speaker of the House Sam Smith, left, and Lt.. Gov. Jim Cawley, right, unveils his 2012-13 state budget proposal before the Pennsylvania House Chamber on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, in Harrisburg. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower)
by Tom MacDonald
Governor Tom Corbett's proposed budget is not sitting well with some school leaders in the region.
Thomas Persing, the acting deputy superintendent of the Chester Upland School District, says the district will lose a million dollars under the budget plan and have to pay out another half-million dollars more in pensions.
"We're going to have less funding for vital education programs. And you couple that with a half-million dollar rise in retirement costs that we have to give to the pension fund," said Persing. "It is virtually devastating."
Chester-Upland is just one school district that will feel the impact of the state budget. Other districts are still reviewing how the budget will affect their education programs — and formulating how they will deal with it.
In his budget address, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett proposed a 30 percent cut to the state-related universities: Temple, Penn State, and the University of Pittsburgh. Lincoln University's funding, however, was left unchanged.
Tony Wagner, the chief financial officer and treasurer of Temple University, says the proposed cut is substantial on its own. "But if you combine it with the 20 percent cut that we took last year," he added, "you know the university's state appropriation will be cut over 50 percent in a two-year period. So that's very substantial."
Wagner says Temple has already worked to cut costs.
"Over the last three fiscal years, we've cut the university's operating budget $83 million. We've also saved money in two of the last three years because the non-bargaining employees have not had a salary increase."
University of Pennsylvania higher education professor Joni Finney is vice president for the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
"Proposing these draconian budget cuts absent a plan for the future is not a very good strategy," said Finney.
Finney said it doesn't make sense for Corbett to cut funding and create a panel to study how to make higher education accessible and affordable.
"Institutions will make choices because they're forced to make choices that may or may not be in the best interest of Pennsylvania. And if we had the planning commission's results, that could guide the direction the state cuts and indeed state investment in higher education in certain areas," Finney said.
Steve Hicks is president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, which represents more than 6,000 faculty members and coaches at Pennsylvania's 14 publicly owned universities.
"The loss of 20 percent of our state appropriation might damage both quality and affordability, and I don't know what working-class, middle-class families are going to do when tuition keeps growing by leaps and bounds," said Hicks.
Last year, Corbett proposed a 50 percent funding cut for higher education, but the number was pared back to less than 20 percent in the final budget.
Corbett proposed the same funding level for Lincoln University "to ensure the institution remains viable," according to Tim Eller, state Department of Education press secretary. "State funding makes up a larger portion of Lincoln’s budget compared to the other state-related universities."
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