Inquirer Editorial: Buck-passing isn't a strategy

Gov. Corbett's shaky plan to use city sales-tax dollars, plus federal funds that the state is unlikely to get, to bail out Philadelphia's destitute schools winks at the state's constitutional obligation to provide a "thorough and efficient" education to Pennsylvania's children.

The scheme provides no assurance that enough money would arrive in time to stave off a devastating 3,800 layoffs before the city's state-controlled district resumes classes in September.

Corbett unrealistically is relying on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to forgive a $108 million debt that HHS has been trying to collect from the state for years. The second phase of the plan would extend a temporary 1 percent hike in the city sales tax that is supposed to sunset in June 2014.

Extending the sales-tax increase, which was passed to help the city get through the 2008 recession and generates about $130 million a year, isn't a bad idea. But it might make more sense to split that money between schools and the city's underfunded employee pension account.

It's unconscionable that Corbett isn't promising any additional state funds, given the fact that Philadelphia's isn't the only financilly struggling school district. Instead, he and some Republican legislators are putting more emphasis on the "shared sacrifice"that school employees have been asked to make, perhaps setting up their unions to take the blame when his dubious plan fails.

Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. had asked that a $304 million budget gap be filled with $60 million in city funds, $120 million from the state, and the rest through employee concessions. City Council has voted to provide $74 million through a $2-a-pack cigarette-tax increase, which must be approved by the legislature, and improved tax collections.

Council could have done more by raising the liquor-by-the-drink and use-and-occupancy taxes. But at least it did something. Corbett, on the other hand, is trying to shift responsibility for solving the problem to the federal government. Isn't this the same guy who hangs out with the get-the-feds-out-of-our-business crowd?

The governor needs to open his eyes to what's going on across the state. About three-quarters of the state's school districts are planning to cut instructional programs, and 47 percent plan to increase class sizes because of reductions in state aid during the Corbett administration.

Here's an idea: Hold off on scheduled cuts in the capital stock and franchise tax, which were suspended between 2009 and 2011 when the state budget was tight. If the tax stays at its current level, it could raise $362 million. Even more funds could be generated by increasing gas-drilling fees and accepting federal dollars to expand Medicaid. There's no good reason for the state not to meet its responsibility to schoolchildren.