Don Skinner – 3/13/11

This page was last updated on March 14, 2011.

Corbett’s priorities make no sense; Don Skinner; Beaver County Times; March 13, 2011.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Gov. Tom Corbett has announced his budget. Two major areas for cuts are public education and higher education.

“At a time when Pennsylvania lags behind many of the other 49 states in education success, we’re going to cut programs?

“At a time when Asia and Europe outpace our educational systems, we’re going to cut programs and reduce our ability to compete.”

[RWC] Most of us don’t seem to notice that just about every major technology we use today was developed by those of us educated at a time when we spent far, far less on “educational systems” than we do today. Do the space program, computers, cell phones, the Internet, et cetera ring a bell?

Let’s look at college tuition increases since 1970 using Penn State as an example. The “Report of the Tuition Task Force - April, 2002” determined “When adjusted for inflation, Penn State’s tuition rate for undergraduates at University Park has doubled in constant dollars from 1970-71 to 2001-02.”

For the 1991-1992 school year, University Park undergraduate tuition was $4,332 for in-state students and $9,118 for out-of-state students. If tuition had increased at the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate, those figures for the 2010-2011 school year would have been $6,936 and $14,598, respectively. The actual tuition for 2010-2011? From $14,412 to $18,604 for in-state students and from $26,276 to $31,110 for out-of-state students. For in-state students, the tuition more than doubled (2.1 to 2.7 times) in constant dollars in 20 years. In 11 fewer years, that’s more than the increase (both amount and rate) we saw from 1970-71 to 2001-02.

“I find it equally puzzling that at a time when Pennsylvania has a huge deficit, we are the only state not taxing the Marcellus shale exploration/drilling.

“Does Corbett owe the Marcellus shale industry his election?”

[RWC] When did we ever tax our way out of budget deficits? Budget deficits result from excessive spending, not insufficient revenue. Lower economic activity can also be a factor. As I wrote during last year’s budget process, “The 2002-2003 budget was $20.7 billion and the proposed 2010-2011 budget is $29 billion. If spending increases had been limited to the increase of the CPI, the current budget would be about $25.1 billion, and instead of a $1 billion deficit we’d have either a $2.9 billion surplus or lower taxation, and lower taxation favors economic growth.”

“More important, does he owe Pennsylvania youth a better, not lesser education?”

[RWC] When did throwing money at the government education industry guarantee “Pennsylvania youth a better, not lesser education?” According to Education Week, in 2006 PA ranked #12 in per-pupil expenditures. According to the Commonwealth Foundation, PA K-12 spending “increased from $4 billion in 1980 to over $25 billion in 2009 - a 133% increase in per-pupil spending, from $6,171 to $14,420 (in 2010 dollars).” If throwing money at government education works, how can “Pennsylvania lag behind many of the other 49 states in education success?”