Sen. Hughes: No state budget without increased education funding

Laying down a position from which top Democrats will not back away, State Sen. Vincent Hughes said Thursday there would be no Pennsylvania budget without a Marcellus Shale tax and millions of dollars in new education spending.

Heading into a second straight day of budget talks with Gov. Wolf and leaders of the four legislative caucuses, Hughes (D., Phila.) said falling state standardized test scores demonstrated a need for greater funding for schools across the state.

Lawmakers and the governor are more than a month late in delivering a state spending plan.

"I'm not going to say that there's any significant progress," Hughes said of budget talks, but "we're trying earnestly to figure out a way to move forward."

The senator, a top Wolf surrogate, was firm: Giving school districts millions more in state aid to reverse the cuts of the previous administration, he said, is paramount.

"Without full restoration of the funding, and that has not been agreed to at this point - nor has the Marcellus Shale tax - then there is no deal, there is no arrangement," Hughes said. "Everything else is sidebar until we're clear on that."

Schools will be opening in the next month, Hughes pointed out, and "many of those schools will have an uncertain opening, and uncertain short-term and long-term future" because of the fiscal question marks.

State test scores, which have not yet been publicly released, went down across Pennsylvania, in some cases dramatically. The tests got tougher, but in many places, schools said they didn't have the finances to prepare students adequately.

Some educators and parents have questioned whether the tests were too tough.

"High standards are appropriate, but the thing that's the crime in this is not having the resources available to meet those standards," Hughes said. "If we don't have the resources in place, we may have to reevaluate the standards put in place."

Education activists echoed Hughes' views.

"The only way to do right by kids is to increase funding for education," said Shanee Garner of Public Citizens for Children and Youth.

"People want schools to open with adequate resources," said Susan Gobreski, executive director of Education Voters-Pennsylvania. "They want small class size. They want their kids to get physical education and science. They want teachers who are supportive. It's imperative upon the legislature to figure this out."

After Thursday's budget talks, Hughes said in a statement that "the only real progress was that for the first time in months, legislative leaders and the governor met for two successive days. Another meeting was scheduled for Tuesday."