Governor Tom Wolf began a Tuesday press conference by calling the budget presented to him before Christmas “garbage,” while calling for spending increases as outlined in the $30.8 billion budget he prefers. He is allowing emergency funds to go out to schools and state agencies to keep them from closing.
He called on the legislature to return to Harrisburg to work on the budget and restore what he called cuts in education spending. Depending on who is looking at the budget, it either cuts education spending by $95 million, as Wolf claims, or it increases spending by $150 million as the legislature claims. It definitely does not increase spending to the level he is asking for.
If the budget the governor wants is passed, one thing everyone can agree on is that taxpayers will be paying more, though no details of the new and increased taxes have been worked out.
Schools will now be able to open after the holidays, but the budget stalemate continues.