Poorer Districts Losing $15K per Classroom, vs.2K in Richer Classrooms; Plus Corbett's Zoning Trick

[JPZenger]

http://pottsmerc.com/articles/2011/06/19/opinion/srv0000012065825.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Editorial in Pottstown Mercury. Excerpts:

"In Pottstown schools, where the median family income is less than $36,000, each student will lose $609 less in state funding under the plan, according to an analysis by Good Schools Pennsylvania. Each classroom in the district will lose more than $15,000 in state funding.

In Lower Merion, where the average family income is nearly $110,000, each student will lose only $83.81 — or $2,095 per classroom.

In Pottstown, Corbett's budget means a loss in state funding of $3.1 million out of a $53.3 million budget proposal.

In Lower Merion, Corbett's budget translates into a loss of about $1.4 million out of a $204.7 million budget."

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By the way, today Governor Gashole said he would veto ANY BUDGET that has ANY FEES OR TAXES on natural gas extraction. Instead, he will only OK a very limited fee after his hand-picked committee comes back with an idea in late July - for NEXT YEAR's BUDGET.

Corbett insists that any gas extraction fees must only go to local municipalities in the areas where the gas is being extracted. Why? So he can use it as a form of incentives/coersion. He wants to ONLY provide any of the fee revenue to those municipalities that adopt zoning regulations that allow gas drilling almost everywhere. Origially, the industry wanted to overrule all local zoning, but this is their fallback position.

[blue neen]

1. He is a most despicable man.

Maybe we could veto paying for any more surgeries for Governor Gashole.

[Divernan]

2. Re: surgeries - state should pay for a heart transplant

Cause the one he was born with evidently shriveled up into a lump of greed a long time ago.

[blue neen]

3. Yes, maybe Corbett can go off to the Emerald City in search of a heart AND a brain.

Unfortunately, it seems like he has the "nerve". :)

[MrMickeysMom]

4. The hell with Gov. Gashole, our zoning ordinance will be stronger-

... if I have anything to say about it.

[blue neen]

5. We definitely cannot count on that where our family is.

These are the same township supervisors who gave the Marcellus Shale drillers permission to drill by Beaver Run Reservoir!

http://www.marcellus-shale.us/Beaver-Run-Reservoir.htm

We cannot underestimate the power of Big Oil and how they now own the politicians of Pennsylvania, the big time pols and the small time pols.

It's horrible.

[MrMickeysMom]

6. Holy cow, blue neen... thank you for the link...

Those pictures really say it all. You are absolutely right. Early on, we had Range Resources in our woods looking for a "water purification site" in Monroeville, which fortunately, we killed.

Very easy to see the impact.... which is not far, as I'm in Monroeville. Jesus...

I take it the IUP students who are monitoring took a baseline sample.

[JPZenger]

7. People should look closely at above link for photos of gas wells right next to reservoir