Corbett cuts to be cut?

HIGHER-EDUCATION advocates got some good news from Harrisburg yesterday when state House Republican Majority Leader Mike Turzai said that GOP legislators would try to erase some of Gov. Corbett's proposed cuts.

Turzai said that the governor's proposed cuts for state-supported universities are too deep.

"There has to be some sense that there's not going to be these continued tuition hikes on the students that are attending," said Turzai, R-Allegheny.

Turzai would not commit to increasing funding for the state's public schools over what Corbett proposed. He said that the first priority for Republicans will be to change the way that Corbett is proposing to distribute $5.2 billion to support instruction and operations in public schools. That could mean an even deeper hit for the Philadelphia School District.

"We think it is disproportionate with respect to Philadelphia, certainly, and we're going to be continuing to look at how it affects districts across the state," Turzai said.