Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Money, Money, Money...

My grandfather was a wonderful man. He could do math in his head at warp speed, he loved his wife and he gave his money and time to many charities. Why am I sharing this? Well, first, I miss him almost everyday and second because he taught me a couple of very important things. One of the most important things he taught me was that we should take care of the young and the old. The young because they were new to the world and they should have a good start and the old because everything we had, they helped us get.

Governor Corbett forgot that yesterday in his budget for 2012 - 2013. He also forgot the value of a college education and to help those less fortunate. He did not forget his contributors though, as the Gas folks are still not paying taxes on what they rape from our environment and the possible negative environmental impact. I understand no one wants to raise taxes, yes, that takes guts, but our State's priorities are out of whack. If this budget is a statement of our values (and certainly it is a statement on what Corbett values), then we are in need of some life lessons and value adjustments.

Now down to brass tacks.

Here is a summary of Corbett's budget.

Pre Kindergarten and Kindergarten throughout the State will suffer with $100 Million less through the cutting go the Accountability Block Grant Program. Locally, the William Penn School District lost $400,000 in the Accountability Block Grant Program. It funded our Full Day Kindergarten program. Our kids need full day Kindergarten, in my opinion, but it will take 5 WPSD board members with the same values as I have to make that statement.

I will also say that while Corbett did not raise taxes, he did make it so that local school districts, will probably have to just to keep up with the bare minimum. We have increase in health care, a pension issue (a problem we did not make, I might add) and teachers salaries to deal with. I say Corbett, you are a chicken...you passed the taxing on to us and you know darn well you did.

PLEASE NOTE: Do not even tell me that teachers do not deserve what they are paid. I dare you to go into a class room for three days in a row. You pick the grade and the district. Really, walk in their shoes before you bash them. AND how dare you bash teachers, really, do you want a more dumbed down society? We support Football, Baseball and Basketball unions, but not the Teachers Union...are our values that warped?

The deep cuts to college will make college financially unreachable for even more. Do I believe that everyone should go to college, no I don't. I love my plumbers, electricians and roofers. I think we should be more respectful to our crafts people but college is a good fit for many. Why cut their funding? Again, do you want a more dumbed down society?

Read up on Corbett's Budget, make up your own mind. I know money is tight but does this budget show our values as a state? Why not educate kids and cut prison funding (an educated kid is way less likely to go to jail). Why cut services to the poor, why not help them get off of social services. Did we create jobs? Should we cut funds to PennDOT, Department of Environmental Protection, Penn State, Temple...speak up folks. Its our state too!

No comments:

Post a Comment