As Pennsylvania gears up for the next gubernatorial election, Governor Corbett’s spokesperson says the governor is proud of his education record. He claims that he has raised state spending on education to its highest levels.
Not so fast.
This Pennsylvania blogger says that Corbett cut nearly $1 billion from the public school budget last year, and flat funded the schools this year, leaving the cuts intact.
She writes: “A quick look at our schools tells the real story, as our students are without beloved teachers and librarians, and are now missing arts education, language, science, gifted and special education programs, tutoring, summer school, Kindergarten, sports, transportation, and more. That is Corbett’s real record.”
The first opponent in the race promised to restore the budget cuts and to oppose vouchers, while he pledged to “honor and encourage Pennsylvania’s teachers, for an excellent education begins with excellent teachers and with the amount of time spent learning.” He noted that, “Verbally beating and attacking teachers is now common in some quarters and is incredibly destructive to attracting top talent to teaching and improving education.”
Maybe a new wind is blowing in Pennsylvania? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.
Like the Gov. in NJ, he may have increased funding but the more pertinent point is where the money is going! Consultants? Online charters? Training for test and evaluation initiatives?
Sometimes less is more and more is less.
Here are some of the numbers from the 2011-12 and 2012-13 Corbett education budgets.
The programs listed below are a few of the education programs completely eliminated in 2011. These have not been restored:
* Reimbursing School Districts for Charter Schools — $224 million
* Education Assistance Program (at-risk student tutoring) — $47.6 million
* School Improvement Grants — $10.8 million
* High School Reform — $1.8 million
You can see our full analysis of PA’s education budgets here: http://www.elc-pa.org/budget2012.html
Needless to say, many of his contributors are charter operators and corporate reform pushers. The good news is he is very weak politically; he may be a one-term governor.