Mar 8, 2011 4 min read

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Hours before Gov. Tom Corbett was expected to advocate deep spending cuts throughout state government, the man he has nominated to be Pennsylvania’s education secretary reminded a Senate panel Monday that bigger isn’t always better.

At his confirmation hearing before the Education Committee, Ronald Tomalis questioned the methodology of a legislatively mandated 2007 study that concluded that the state’s share of public school funding was inadequate.

Democratic former Gov. Ed Rendell, who left office in January, used those findings to help justify billions of dollars in increased education spending.

“I’m not one who believes in the idea that money equals quality,” Tomalis told Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, one of the committee members who peppered the nominee with wide-ranging questions during an hour-long hearing. “It seems that there is always a reason to spend more money on public education.”

The committee unanimously endorsed Tomalis, an education policy veteran with experience in Pennsylvania government as well as the federal government.

Tomalis, who is serving as acting secretary pending Senate confirmation of his appointment, hinted that the new Republican administration will seek to slow the implementation of Keystone Exams, the new high school graduation competency tests.

They are currently slated to be fully in place statewide by the 2016-17 school year.

Field testing revealed disparities in academic performance among students from different school districts – a concern that is compounded by the high cost of the testing, Tomalis told the committee.

“It’s a good time to take a step back and make sure that, when we go forward to implement a higher-stakes test, that our students are able to pass the test that … we’re forcing them to pass,” he said. “The preliminary indications are that it’s going to be very challenging in many areas.”

Corbett “will have more to say on this” on Tuesday, he said.

So far, the governor has revealed little about what he will propose in his first budget speech to the Legislature.

The current budget totals $28 billion, but billions in federal stimulus funds and transfers of other state funds are not expected to be available in the fiscal year that starts July 1.

Corbett, the former state attorney general, promised in his election campaign that he would not increase state taxes or fees.

In addition to what are expected to be significant spending cuts, Corbett has sent out signals about other fiscal policies, including support for the privatization of the now state-controlled sale of wine and liquor.

When funding ran out last month for adultBasic, a 9-year-old program that provided subsidized insurance for 41,000 Pennsylvanians, he terminated the program rather than looking for ways to sustain it.

His administration adopted a “business-friendly” interpretation of the law governing how rapidly corporate taxpayers may claim depreciation deductions that is expected to translate into $200 million in tax breaks for 2010 and 2011.

Tony Ross, the president and CEO of the United Way, said Monday that social service organizations that rely on state dollars to serve millions each year are already squeezed from recent state budgets.

He said he hoped that budget-makers will see that it’s important to preserve money for services that work well, and that it costs less to help people before a problem grows worse.

“If you’re talking about fiscal responsibility, so often prevention is the best course and it’s really the most responsible course,” Ross said.

Tomalis revealed nothing new about the effect Corbett’s budget will have on his department, which has a 2010-11 budget totaling just over $10 billion.

That includes $676 million in federal stimulus money – a figure that could climb to more than $1 billion if the administration gets its way.

At the administration’s request, the House Appropriations Committee on Monday approved appropriating $388 million from the federal Education Jobs Fund.

Administration officials said the federal government directed that the money be awarded to school districts in the 2010-11 school year.

The federal money will replace $338 million in state money allotted to basic education funding, which officials have placed in a reserve fund, and restores an additional $50 million for that purpose that was cut last year when state officials feared that federal aid would be less than they anticipated.

–(equals)

Associated Press newsman Marc Levy contributed to this report.

AP

03/07/11 18:20