Will the Governor continue to play with fire and cause schools across the state to go bankrupt?
This is the most reckless Governor in the history of the state. Playing with the lives of kids who depend on the state to do their constitutional duty and fund school as per state law!
Please STOP playing politics with the children Gov. Wolf.

Bring budget battle to a merciful end, governor

http://www.ydr.com/story/opinion/readers/2016/03/17/bring-budget-battle-merciful-end-governor/81906012/

Members of the Senate and House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committees held a joint hearing this week to explore the impact of Gov. Wolf’s nearly $100 million in cuts to the Department of Agriculture. The testimony gathered during this meeting was extremely sobering.Without funding, more than a thousand employees of the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences and Extension Services will receive pink slips in less than two months, and the Animal Diagnostic Lab will close on June 30.

Numerous other programs and services that help keep our agricultural operations safe and viable could also face a bleak future in the absence of a completed state budget. These are real programs that protect our food supply and ensure our agribusinesses can continue to operate effectively, and the governor’s vetoes have put them in jeopardy.Sadly, these serious problems are not isolated to the agriculture community. The governor’s $3.1 billion in education cuts have left many schools scrambling to find enough money just to keep the doors open through the end of the school year.

Our prisons are only receiving funding through an accounting gimmick that may be illegal and unconstitutional. Many rural hospitals are considering the real possibility of cutting services to patients. No responsible elected official should ever allow any of this to happen.Pennsylvanians are outraged that the situation has reached this point, and they have every right to be angry. It is far past time to close the book on this year’s budget so we can end this unnecessary and completely avoidable suffering.I joined lawmakers this week in supporting a bill to restore some of the most painful cuts perpetrated by Gov. Wolf in December.

The bill would use revenues the state already has available in order to fund these programs without the need for a tax increase. Most importantly, it would prevent our communities from feeling the catastrophic impacts of the governor’s vetoes.It is extremely disappointing that the governor has met this bill with nothing but derision and political posturing. It is far past time for the governor to show some real leadership, and that process begins by releasing the innocent victims that he has taken hostage over the past several months.When discussing the budget, the governor is fond of perpetuating the myth that lawmakers must choose between two paths: one path with deep funding cuts to schools and other vital government programs, and another path with massive tax increases.

Most observers understand that this line of attack is nothing more than an exceptionally lazy rhetorical device intended to obscure the complexities of the budget process. In a budget with hundreds upon hundreds of line items, lawmakers absolutely have more than two options at their disposal.However, when this budget bill reaches his desk, Gov. Wolf will truly be faced with two paths. One path leads to our schools, hospitals and agricultural programs receiving the funding they need to serve our communities.

The other path ends with our students left in limbo as schools close prior to the end of the school year, our farmers and agribusinesses suffering due to indiscriminate funding cuts and hospitals curtailing critical services to patients.

We can only hope that Gov. Wolf sees fit to set aside his ego and close the book on this regrettable nine-month charade. If he chooses the wrong path, then the governor – and all those who support his unique brand of callous obstructionism – must accept full responsibility for the dire consequences our communities will suffer. Lawmakers who support this budget have done our job. It’s time for Gov. Wolf to finally do his.

Sen. Rich Alloway is a Republican whose district includes Adams County.