Will ed. budget make the cut?

Republican lawmakers in Harrisburg have proposed a plan that would slightly cut the state’s education budget.

Republican lawmakers in Harrisburg have proposed a plan that would slightly cut the state’s education budget, not increase it like Governor Rendell has called for. Public school advocates say this would set the state back.

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[audio: 090504spschools.mp3]

Governor Rendell has proposed increasing education spending by more than 400 million dollars, in part by using federal stimulus money. But Republicans in the state Senate want to use the federal funds to keep the education budget just under 2008 levels.

Janis Risch is the executive director of Good Schools Pennsylvania. She says the Republican proposal will hurt local school districts.

Risch: What this budget is proposing to do is actually roll back state funding to previous level of support and use the stimulous dollars not to support schools to meet their increased cost but to maintain last year’s funding. In essence it’s a cut to school districts and it was not the intent of the stimulus dollars.

Republicans say their overall 27.3 billion dollar plan reflects tough economic times and would avoid tax hikes.