Santarsiero votes against state budget

HARRISBURG, – State Rep. Steve Santarsiero, D-Bucks, on Sunday voted against Gov. Tom Corbett’s A28.4 billion budget proposal, saying it’s unfair to Pennsylvania’s families.

House Bill 143T, which was signed into law by Corbett, continues to underfund basic K-12 education, colleges and universities while expanding giveaways to large multinational companies with no guarantees of job creation.

“When my colleagues say the budget is balanced, I disagree because it is not balanced for the people of Pennsylvania,” Santarsiero said. “Our priorities should be with the families and ... not with giving away our tax dollars to large multinational companies without any assurances of new jobs created.”

The spending plan continues the steep cuts of the roughly A1 billion to classroom spending in previous years, he added. Council Rock School District’s state funding is down ATMM,MMM IURP fiscDO yHDU 2010-11, DnG 3Hnnsbury lost A1.3 million in funding over the previous three years.

Santarsiero said the news is just as bad for Pennsylvania’s colleges and universities. The bill continues the draconian cuts to community colleges, PHEAA grants, the State Sys- tem of Higher Education, and the main appropriations for Penn State, the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University and the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology.

“The political leadership in our state has turned its back on Pennsylvania families by not adequately investing in the education of our youth while our families continue to be burdened by increasing costs for college,” Santarsiero said, noting that Pennsylvania has the second-highest amount of student debt in the country.

He also said the budget continues A1 billion worth of corporate tax breaks DnG IDYRUs sLncH CRUEHWW WRRN RIficH.