Governor Tom Wolf addressed a joint session of the State House and Senate Tuesday morning to present his budget, which focuses on education funding and working together to improve the state’s financial condition.
In his address, Governor Wolf said one of the ways to grow the economy and business was to fund education, and not just K-12 schools. One part of his budget proposal is the investment in career and technical education, along with investment in the State System of Higher Education.
Wolf also said that by working together, progress has been made on improving Pennsylvania financially. Last year, the budget was delayed as the funding plan was not agreed upon by Wolf or the state legislature until months after the budget was passed. In his speech, Wolf said working together should be easier because the “fiscal monster” as he put it was being tamed.
We talked with House Majority Leader Dave Reed and he said he was hopeful that the spirit of cooperation mentioned by Wolf would continue and make things easier, so that a budget and funding plan can come together on time. He is hopeful that the revenue estimates are accurate, but is also wary of the Governor’s continued push for a natural gas severance tax and for a spending increase of $1 billion. Reed is also wanting to see a budget with no new tax increases for the state.
The budget is due to be passed by June 30th, but many Republicans are saying they want things done sooner than then.
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