Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property nxs_wpAddnEngine::$k is deprecated in /home/stiernet/marcstier.com/blog2/wp-content/plugins/nxs-snap-pro-upgrade/nxs-snap-pro-upgrade.php on line 11
{"id":9935,"date":"2016-04-13T14:48:50","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T18:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/?p=9935"},"modified":"2024-01-14T13:26:22","modified_gmt":"2024-01-14T18:26:22","slug":"diverse-coalition-of-organizations-launch-pas-choice-budget-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/?p=9935","title":{"rendered":"Diverse Coalition of Organizations Launch “PA’s Choice” Budget Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Pennsylvania continues to enact unbalanced state budgets, the commonwealth will run a deficit that grows every year. Without new tax revenues, Pennsylvania will not be able to maintain the needed funding for education, human services, the environment, or community and economic development.<\/p>\n

“Pennsylvania’s Choice<\/a>” partners will be organizing in areas across the state, bringing together community members to make clear to elected officials that, if the state cannot secure new revenues, these communities will face devastating cutbacks to programs in these and other areas that are critical to Pennsylvanians every single day.<\/p>\n

Utilizing earned media events, digital media and face-to-face meetings, the campaign will be highlighting stories of how budget cuts \u2014 and continued threats of additional budget cuts \u2014 are affecting Pennsylvanians from rural communities, to suburban towns to big cities.<\/p>\n

Many of the partner organizations were in Harrisburg today for a kick-off press conference:<\/p>\n

Marc Stier, Director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center<\/strong>\u00a0explained the genesis of the campaign: \u201cWe\u2019ve come together because it is time to face the reality of the fiscal cliff. We\u2019ve come together because the time for budget balanced in name only is over. We\u2019ve come together because we must avoid the devastating cuts that would be necessary to balance the budget without new revenues. We\u2019ve come together because we know that it is possible to raise new revenues without putting the burden on Pennsylvania\u2019s middle class. And while we call the campaign \u2018Pennsylvania\u2019s Choice,\u2019 we\u2019ve come together because we know that the truth is we really have no choice. We must deal with the fiscal crisis honestly and transparently. Or we will all suffer terribly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Arc of Pennsylvania supports a budget which protects and enhances the right of people with disabilities to live, learn, work, and thrive in their communities,\u201d said\u00a0Ashlinn Masland-Sarani, Policy and Development Director for The Arc of Pennsylvania<\/strong>. \u201cThe Arc of PA and its members believe that providing community access to people with disabilities and supporting their families is a core responsibility of our state government.\u201d<\/p>\n

“The people of Pennsylvania have a right to clean air, pure water, and the preservation of the environment – that right is compromised if the lead agency charged with upholding it can’t even afford to fill necessary vacant positions. The Department of Environmental Protection has been systematically underfunded for years, and we cannot allow that to happen again in 2016,\u201d said\u00a0Sierra Club – Pennsylvania Director Joanne Kilgour<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“We can no longer afford to continue down the same path of papering over the problem with accounting gimmicks unsustainable revenues and empty rhetoric. Our children cannot afford it. Our communities cannot afford it. Our Commonwealth cannot afford it,\u201d said\u00a0JoAnne Sessa, Secretary-Treasurer, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 668<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 2015-2016 budget embodies the absolute failure of our state government both to meet the needs of Pennsylvania’s public school students and to pay the obligations the Commonwealth owes to school districts in construction reimbursement payments,\u201d said\u00a0Susan Spicka, Director of Education Voters of Pennsylvania<\/strong>. \u201cWith this budget many schools will experience a substantial decrease in money available to support academic programs and services for students and communities will shoulder significant additional costs, as the state has shifted a considerable financial obligation onto the shoulders of local taxpayers. Education Voters of PA is joining together with the diverse coalition that makes up the PA\u2019s Choice campaign so that we can work together to ensure that the travesty of the 2015-2016 budget does not repeat itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about the campaign at\u00a0www.pachoice.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Organizations Supporting \u201cPennsylvania\u2019s Choice\u201d<\/p>\n

The Arc of Pennsylvania<\/p>\n