Public schools get 5.5% rise in Pa. budget

The public welfare budget was increased by $633 million, 6.6 percent.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A state budget that boosts education spending and borrows for energy, infrastructure and economic development projects easily passed the state Legislature on Friday and was signed into law by a visibly pleased Gov. Ed Rendell.

“We did an awful lot in this session, an awful lot that will improve the lives of ordinary Pennsylvanians,” Rendell said at an early evening bill signing ceremony in the Capitol.

The 2008-09 state budget — and a flurry of other legislation — was approved four days into the state government’s new fiscal year.

The nearly $28.3 billion in spending represents an increase of about $1 billion over the just-ended fiscal year, with more than 90 percent of that increase going to education and social services.

Public schools will get an unprecedented $274 million increase, or 5.5 percent, for operations and instruction. An additional $65 million, up 40 percent, will go to charter schools.

Rendell called it “a very good budget, a great budget indeed. I’m pleased to sign it.” Although the measure passed by wide margins in both chambers of the Legislature, some House Republicans said it would saddle the state with unsustainable debt and doled out the education dollars inequitably.

Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, said the budget relied too much on borrowing, failed to adequately restrain growth and did not cut taxes.

“We keep hearing from all the people that want, want, want from Harrisburg,” he said. “But I’m convinced that the majority of Pennsylvanians don’t want anything but to let their hard-earned money stay in their pocket.”

The Department of Public Welfare budget will rise by $633 million, or 6.6 percent, with huge increases in primary and nursing home care for the poor, services for the mentally retarded, child welfare services and help for the working poor who have children.

Payments on debt will rise by nearly $50 million, or more than 5 percent.

“Like putting anything together, everybody’s not going to get what they want,” said Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, the Appropriations Committee chairman, shortly before the House voted 170-32 in favor of the main budget bill. “That’s what I mean by you’ve got to make choices. I think we made some excellent choices.”

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, said limiting the budget’s growth to roughly 4 percent — slightly less than Rendell had sought — and preserving the “rainy day” contingency fund positioned the state better to weather the current economic downturn.

The measure passed the Senate 49-1 without debate.

House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene, noted that it did not provide any broad tax increases, avoided furloughs and was balanced even as other large industrial states have faced much more painful budget choices.

Also passing in the waning hours of session before lawmakers vacated Harrisburg for the General Assembly’s summer break was legislation to help seniors maintain eligibility for prescription drug subsidies under the PACE and PACENET programs and a bill to collect 911 system fees from people who use the Internet for phone service.

A package of energy bills that would provide more than $650 million to encourage alternative energy and fuels and improve conservation was sent to the governor, and the Legislature approved billions in borrowing for economic development projects, water and sewer systems and other needs.

“The best thing about these projects is they’re going to put a lot of Pennsylvanians to work,” Rendell said.

Sen. Gibson E. Armstrong, R-Lancaster, the Appropriations chairman, said the infrastructure needs, rising cost of construction materials and favorable interest-rate climate justified the passage of substantial new borrowing.

“It’s not going to be cheaper to do any of these things next year or the year after,” he said on the Senate floor.

Lawmakers expect to return in September for what will likely be a packed legislative calendar. Senate Republicans said they will not convene the traditional lame-duck session that has previously been held in the weeks after legislative elections in even-numbered years.

Rendell said he hoped lawmakers will spend time this fall addressing the need to provide health coverage to the uninsured and to mitigate a spike in electricity customers’ bills expected to occur as rate caps expire in a few years.