Job Creation & Economic Development

Educating Our Children

Transportation Funding

JOB CREATION & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

We must use creative and innovative approaches to not only create new jobs and bring new industry into our state, but to protect the jobs we have and help our existing businesses who have been here with us for years.  There are no simple answers.  We have to utilize a several tier approach.

I have a five-point jobs plan which includes: 

EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN

Since 2002, the number of students performing at the highest level in state proficiency exams has doubled while the number of lowest-performing students has been reduced by nearly half.  Progress is being made.

However, even with this positive student achievement, new thinking is needed on how public schools are funded.  Too much emphasis is placed on total dollars and more needs to be done on using funding wisely—and funding those programs which provide real education and not just serve as dollar pools to hire more administrators.  More money does not necessarily equal better schools.  Targeted investment in education is needed.

We also have to address the inequalities in our education funding system.  Our funding system has an over-reliance on local property taxes.  We will not have equitable funding until the issue of local property taxes is addressed.

TRANSPORTATION FUNDING

Fixing our state roads and bridges is imperative as we move forward. 

With over 25,000 state-owned bridges, Pennsylvania has the third largest number of bridges in the nation.  But we lead the nation in the number of bridges classified as “structurally deficient,” which is nearly 6,000.  The average age of bridges in the state system is 50 years old.

It has been estimated that an additional $3.5 billion is needed to address our deteriorating roads and bridges.  I believe we need to move quickly and responsibly to redirect our limited resources.  In order to address this funding shortfall, we need to think outside the box and not fall back on increasing taxes each and every time we run into funding difficulties.  In this economy, we must meet these needs without raising taxes on our already over-taxed citizens.