Massafra, Daley address education, small games of chance
The following is the last in a three-part series on the race for the House of Representatives seat in the 49th Legislative District.
Rigorous regulations for school testing and for small games of chance are topics that have of 49th Legislative District candidates Peter J. Daley and Richard Massafra eager to voice their opinions.
The candidates were asked at a recent meeting of the HeraldStandard.com editorial board whether lower local test scores could be attributed to education cuts by Gov. Tom Corbett or because of the practices of area school districts.
Daley placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the governor.
“Gov. Corbett has been hellbent on a mission to destroy public education for the last two years. He cut a billion dollars out of their budget,” Daley said. “My opponent wants to have vouchers; he calls it opportunity grants. That’s destroying public education. Charter schools are destroying public education. That money for charter schools comes from local school districts like Brownsville.”
Daley said area districts have been hit with deeper cuts that those in more affluent areas.
“When you don’t have the teachers, when you don’t have the money, you have a school district that can’t buy books, how are you going to compete on a test that’s tested on a statewide basis?” Daley said.
Massafra noted that Daley had endorsed Corbett.
“I do not want to eliminate public education. Whenever schools are failing the student, they need the options to be able to go and get the best education for them,” Massafra said.
Massafra accused Daley of putting unions above children and education.
“In Brownsville, we spend $12,000 a year per kid. That’s about $300,000 per classroom, per year. My question has always been, ‘Where is the money going?'” Massafra said. “I don’t think throwing money at it is the solution. We need to find out where the money’s going and how we can spend it better.”
Nonprofit organizations, including volunteer fire departments and veterans organizations, have expressed concerns about a new small games of chance law that requires the organizations to record winners and, in some cases, withhold taxes from winnings.
Massafra said some fire departments in the district already have had to consolidate because of hard economic times.
“I think whoever passed that bill was kind of crazy. It was the most stupid bill I’ve ever heard of,” Massafra said.
Massafra said the bill is burdensome and needs to be repealed before fire departments lose more money because of it.
“We need to support our fire departments with less regulations,” Massafra said. “They need to be able to give someone some tickets and let them sell them.
“We need to go back to making it easy for these people to raise money,” Massafra said.
Daley said he is already trying to repeal Act 44, which changed the small games of chance regulations.
Daley said the Republican party pushed the bill, with little time for legislators to review it.
“The bill’s bad. The bill’s got to be repealed. Every small organization, the American Legions, VFWs, the bingos at the fire departments, are done,” Daley said.
The 49th Legislative District includes portions of Fayette and Washington counties.