Educators fire back at Gov. Corbett's 2013 budget - abc27 WHTM

Educators are firing back at Governor Tom Corbett's 2013 budget plan.

Pennsylvania State Education Association president Mike Crossey told abc27 his organization was expecting Corbett to restore a decent portion of the $1-billion in public education cuts made over his last two budgets, but he only funded an additional $90-million.

"I think these cuts have been very cruel, and I think you can tell because student test scores have started to drop," Crossey said.

Crossey says with class sizes at all-time highs, massive teacher layoffs, program cuts and districts forced to foot the bill by hiking property taxes, selling the state's liquor stores for $1-billion as a "quick fix" is not the answer.

"You've got an asset that brings in, at the current time, $500-million every single year," he said. "The governor's thinking about selling that off for a one-time, quick hit and dirty profit. Why?"

He also said Corbett's plan to increase teacher pension contributions is already in place.

"Over the last ten years as an employee, we've paid in double to what the employer has paid in ten years," Crossey said. "So it's very different than the normal conversation out there in that our pension system works."

Crossey said PSEA will now work with the state legislature to try and secure additional funding before the final budget vote in June.