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As I read the recent column from Gov. Tom Wolf’s press secretary regarding state education funding (Jeff Sheridan: Expect runaway school property taxes if Republicans get their way with state budget, March 8), I noticed one important facet of the discussion was missing.
Reality.
Throughout the course of Pennsylvania’s ongoing budget crisis, the Wolf administration has steadfastly refused to discuss the facts of this disaster of their own making.
First, both the state Senate and state House of Representatives put an on-time and balanced budget on Gov. Wolf’s desk before the constitution’s June 30 deadline.
The budget was created after Gov. Wolf proposed a spending plan that included a 20 percent hike in the income tax and a 10 percent hike in the sales tax, while expanding the sales tax to items such as diapers, nursing home care and even caskets. In fact, the National Association of State Budget Officers determined Gov. Wolf’s proposal raised taxes higher than proposals in the other 49 states combined. Does that sound like tax relief?
Gov. Wolf’s decision to entirely veto the June 30 budget completely blocked funding for our schools and social services. Over the course of the next six months, Gov. Wolf and Democrats in the General Assembly blocked Republicans’ repeated efforts to release emergency funds for our schoolkids.
Then, in late December, after Republicans passed yet another budget, Gov. Wolf chose to single-handedly cut $3.1 billion from the budgets of our schools, as well as funding for job programs and even long-term care services so he could use them as leverage in any future negotiations.
Now, Tom Wolf is traveling throughout the commonwealth in an attempt to gain support for higher spending and even higher taxes. As Wolf takes part in photo opportunity after photo opportunity, his administration is sending letters to school districts detailing the process for how to close their doors due to the budget crisis.
The Wolf administration loves to blame their predecessors for Gov. Ed Rendell’s one-time use of stimulus dollars to fund our schools.
Well, Governor, you’ve been in office for more than a year. Your administration has purposefully and repeatedly withheld more than $3 billion in funds for our schools. The voters, and our schoolchildren, are looking to you to lead, and you are failing them.
The facts might be difficult to face, but it’s time someone told Gov. Wolf the truth about his role in Pennsylvania’s historic budget crisis. We cannot afford to ignore the problem he created.