PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE Editorial: ….Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities and its state-related schools — including the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State — sidestepped a 20 percent cut and instead will receive the same level of funding they got in 2011-12. It’s not as much as they wanted, given the big cuts they absorbed under the budget adopted one year ago, but it’s enough that they’ve agreed to keep any tuition hikes low for the fall. The board of Community College of Allegheny County already has decided not to raise tuition at all for the coming academic year, a goal that the other schools should share.
Similarly, the new budget keeps funding essentially flat for public schools while sending significantly more dollars to the districts to cover the cost of their pension program. Again, better than a cut in educational line items, but still a challenge for districts trying to meet their obligations to students without saddling property owners with higher taxes.
However, overall human service programs for the state’s 67 counties will be cut by 10 percent. Particularly mean-spirited was elimination of the $150 million program that had provided short-term cash payments of $200 a month to help poor, disabled Pennsylvanians get back on their feet… (more)
