Building a Stronger Pennsylvania: The 2014-2015 Proposed Budget
#StrongerPA
Paid for by Tom Corbett for Governor A New Direction: When Governor Corbett took office three years ago, Pennsylvania was plagued by wasteful government spending and a struggling economy. Digging out required making tough decisions to reform Pennsylvania, eliminate a $4.2 billion deficit, keep taxes low and boost our economy to allow for new family-sustaining jobs in the private sector to be created. A Brighter Future: Governor Corbett is moving Pennsylvania towards a brighter future, practicing fiscal responsibility and continuing to make education, jobs and healthcare our priorities for growth and opportunity. Pennsylvania is becoming stronger by the day thanks to the “More Jobs, Less Taxes” agenda of the Corbett administration.
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Education: Pennsylvania’s federal stimulus funding vanished when Governor Corbett took office and required tough choices to restore losses in state funding, create accountability and stronger standards and invest historic amounts in public education. Governor Corbett also facilitated a shift from focusing on strictly the amount of funding to strategic investment and greater quality of learning and instituted the School Performance Profiles to increase transparency for parents and taxpayers.
$10.1 Billion In Education Funding – The 2014-2015 budget sets an all-time historic record of direct state support for public education. $1.2 Billion Increase Since 2011 – Governor Corbett has increased support for public education every year since taking office. Early Childhood Investments: The budget expands access to early learning programs that instill our children earlier with the skills needed to succeed later in school and life. o $10.0 million – Pre-K Counts: 2014-2015 budget increase, 1,670 more served. o $46.5 million – Early Learning: 2011-2014 budget increase, 11,000 more served. o $51.7 million – Race to the Top Grant: Federal grant awarded in 2013. K-12 Education: The 2014-2015 budget proposal expands the governor’s agenda to increase accountability, transparency and support for public schools through 3 core programs. o $340 million – Ready to Learn Block Grant: A student-focused formula to increase innovation, student achievement and success in the classroom. Funds can be used for Ready by Third-Grade to ensure students are reading and doing math at grade level by third grade, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, flexible Supplemental Instruction to address individual student learning needs and the Governor’s Expanding Excellence program to support school to school mentoring. o $10 million – Pennsylvania Hybrid Learning Grant: Competitive grants to award approximately 100 schools for new teacher-developed classroom strategies that make students more successful through a blend of traditional and digital components. o $20 million – Special Education: Increases access to specialized learning needs distributed through a weighted student funding formula based on 3 types of special education. Postsecondary Education: The 2014-2015 budget proposes additional funding for Ready to Succeed Scholarships to make postsecondary education more affordable for middle-income families to pursue two- or four-year degrees at Pennsylvania colleges and universities. o $25 million – Ready to Succeed Scholarships
Jobs and the Economy: Governor Corbett continues to build an economic environment in Pennsylvania where the private sector can grow and put Pennsylvanians back to work. The governor has reformed Pennsylvania’s tax, legal and regulatory climates, worked with the private sector to invest in development and job creation, achieved historic funding
0 – New Tax Increases: For the 4th year in a row, the governor’s budget contains no new tax increases on Pennsylvania’s hard working families and small businesses and preserves important tax credit programs. 99% — Of Pre-Recession Jobs Level Recovered JOBS1st PA: Originally launched in 2012 to harness natural resources and opportunities to create and keep jobs in Pennsylvania, Governor Corbett will focus on Make It In PA to continue recovery and growth in manufacturing, life sciences and technology and Talented Workers to invest in training Pennsylvanians for new job opportunities. Discovered in PA – Developed in PA: Continued funding to provide a quicker avenue for ideas to go from the development stage to market. Innovation in the Marketplace: The 2014-2015 budget proposal increases funding to support partnerships with innovative programs that attract job creators and industries to Pennsylvania. o $500,000 – Partnership for Regional Economic Performance (PREP): A regional program that has succeeded in bringing jobs back to Pennsylvania. o $1.25 million – Attracting Visitors: An increase to support travel, tourism and film-related economic development in Pennsylvania. o $604,000 – World Trade PA: Increasing funding to pursue and attract foreign investments and gain access to foreign markets for Pennsylvania products. o $1.1 million – Marketing to Attract Business: A program to increase Pennsylvania’s marketing ability Emphasis on Job Training: The governor’s budget increases investments in job training to equip workers with the skills needed for the jobs of the 21st Century. o $4.8 million – Jobs for All: A $1 million state investment in on the job training
for young people with disabilities secures $3.8 million in federal funding.
o $5 million – Pennsylvania First: Job training for an additional 10,000 individuals. o Continued support for the Keystone Works job training program, expanding partnerships between libraries and Careerlink centers to provide greater access to local resources and expanding JobGateway to add online training courses and assessments.
Healthcare: In addition to educating, training and employing our workforce, Governor Corbett’s 2014-2015 budget continues the implementation of his Healthy PA proposal and advances initiatives to increase Pennsylvanians access to quality, affordable care at the state level, while rejecting the federal government’s overreach into state responsibility.
Rejected – ObamaCare: Governor Corbett lead the lawsuit against ObamaCare as Attorney General, securing flexibility for states to reject some of the ObamaCare mandates. Rejected – Blind Medicaid Expansion: The costly expansion risks leaving taxpayers footing the bill for the expansion of a costly entitlement that even the president has admitted need reform Rejected – ObamaCare Exchanges: A state exchange would have come with a price tag of more than $30 million for taxpayers, while the underlying failures of ObamaCare have caused issues in both federal and state exchanges. Increasing Access: Healthy PA and the governor’s budget invest in programs that incentivize doctors and provide greater access to quality care for Pennsylvanians. o $4 million – Primary Care Doctors: The governor’s budget funds 12 additional hospital residencies and 70 awards for loan repayments to recruit and keep care providers in underserved areas. o $4 million – Community-Based Healthcare: Grants for 4 additional healthcare centers and 36 existing ones for better access to preventative services in underserved areas. o $9 million – CHIP: Gives more than 10,400 additional children access to the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Ensuring Quality: As he has with education funding, Governor Corbett is not only increasing funding for healthcare, but ensuring the best possible quality of care is available to Pennsylvanians. o $18 million – Physically Disabled: Serving almost 1,600 more individuals. o $23.5 million – Older Pennsylvanians: Increases programming for more than 3,000 new individuals t
o be removed from wait lists and receive care at home. Providing Affordability: $125 million in savings from implementing Medicaid Reforms and private coverage options contained within Healthy PA, pending approval by the federal government. Caring for Those in Need: Increasing funding for Governor Corbett’s priority of improving health and caring for those who cannot care for themselves. o $23.5 million – Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism on Wait Lists. o $5.4 million – Moving Individuals from Institutional Care to Community-Based Care. o $2.2 million – 10% Increase for Victims of Sexual and Domestic Violence. o 3,000 – Children Removed from Wait List for Child Care Additional Investments: Agriculture and the Environment: 1.5 million – Research: Additional funding for research and extension work at Penn State University to develop new technologies. $7.3 million – Environmental Protection: A 9.6% increase to protect the quality of Pennsylvania’s air, waterways and wetlands and mitigating mining damage. $1.7 million – Regional Environmental Program Management: A 6.7% increase.
Continued support of $3.4 million to support local conservation districts and projects that provide assistance to farmers.
Public Safety $14 million – State Police Protection: Funding to support 350 new trooper cadets in 4 classes to maintain statewide assistance. $2.48 million – Re-Entry Programs: Funding to make manageable parole caseloads as part of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) that has saved taxpayer dollars by reducing inefficiency and moving prisoners from jails to supervised re-entry in public. $701,000 – Victims Programs: Investments allocated from savings in the Justice Reinvestment Program to fund victims services, and build a more cost-effective corrections system. $2.49 million – Health Savings: Increase facilitated by participating in federal inpatient medical care. $2.5 million – Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission for Juvenile Justice Reinvestment $2 million – Enhancing Evidenced-Based Intervention Services for Juveniles. $2 million – Pilot Program for Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services. $2 million – Support and Expansion for the Child Advocacy Center for Abused Children. Veterans $1 million – Veterans Trust Fund (VTF): Additional grants to service organizations, county veterans’ offices, and statewide charities that assist veterans and helps secure federal benefits and pensions earned by service to their country. Implements the veterans’ designation on Pennsylvania driver’s licenses and continues funding for the veterans mobile outreach van to increase information and benefits available to veterans and their families.
