Smart Talk: PA Sec. of Education on Corbett budget

What to look for on Smart Talk Monday, March 10, 2014:

Gov. Tom Corbett is proposing a $400 million increase in funding to education in his budget plan that begins July 1.

It includes $240 million for a block grant program that will give local school districts options on how to use it.

The proposal also includes a $20 million increase for special education programs throughout the state.

Pennsylvania’s Acting Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq appears on Monday’s Smart Talk to explain the administration’s priorities in education.

The Corbett Administration has been criticized since the governor’s first year in office for being “anti-public education.” They point to almost one billion dollars in budget cuts to education in that first year.

The governor has countered that he hasn’t slashed any funding. The state has simply not replaced money to schools that came from the federal government designed as an economic stimulus coming out of the recession.

School districts say they have had to make staff and other reductions because they don’t have as much money.

What questions or comments do you have for Sec. Dumaresq about education in Pennsylvania?

Listen to the program:

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