News & Brews June 13, 2022
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How (exiting) state budget power players may impact budget negotiations
The progressive Pennsylvania Capital-Star writes, “It’s uncertain whether the impending departure of three of the Pennsylvania Legislature’s budget power players will affect the process of turning Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget proposal into a final spending planthat both lawmakers and the state’s chief executive will approve.” The members in point are Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, who lost the GOP primary for governor and is not seeking re-election to the senate, as well as House and Senate Appropriations Chairs Stan Saylor and Pat Browne, who lost their respective primary races. At the close of the story, the Capital-Star offers a look at several additional budget power players in the legislature.
WSJ Editorials: Mail-in-voting anarchy, & professionalism in politics?
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board takes issue with last week’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court not to get involved in the case involving undated mail-in ballots in a 2021 Lehigh County judicial race. The Ed Board predicts the court’s “dereliction” may come back to haunt the country this November. Separately, the Ed Board commends David McCormick for his “political honor” in graciously conceding to Dr. Mehmet Oz and commends Oz for not taking former President’s Trump’s bait to cry election fraud during the recent recount.
PA education funding hits all-time high
A new report from the Commonwealth Foundation shows that school district spending per-student hit $19,900 in the 2020-21 school year. And state funding for public education reached an all-time high of $13.3 billion in the 2021-22 academic year, an increase of 40 percent over the last decade. Meanwhile, school districts are holding nearly $5.3 billion in reserve funds and the state Treasury has an additional $5.46 billion in unspent federal pandemic aid for schools. But go ahead, keep telling me how schools are underfunded.
Teachers’ union pressures members to oppose workers’ rights
Last week, I shared that the Pennsylvania State Education Association went apoplectic at the prospect that the Legislature may advance several workers’ rights bills. Beyond issuing the above-linked press release, the PSEA also sent members an email with the subject, “Critical Alert: These guys are coming after us.” I guess someone doesn’t like workers’ rights. Our friends at Americans for Fair Treatment have more.