Jan. 12, 2016

HARRISBURG – Rep. Thomas Killion (R-Delaware) joined the majority of his House colleagues Monday in voting to approve funding for Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities – Penn State, Temple and Lincoln universities and the University of Pittsburgh – but the measures fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage.

“The funding levels we provided in this year’s budget – and in this funding proposal – are the same amounts that Gov. Tom Wolf has called on the Legislature to approve and were agreed to by the House and Senate,” said Killion. “Despite the fact that this funding was not in dispute, the governor and his allies are continuing to hold these institutions and college students hostage in order to press for massive tax increases. Last evening, House Democrats backed him up by voting against the allocations to universities, thwarting the two-thirds majority vote needed to get the funding out to the students who need it. That’s not right.”

The funding provided to Penn State, Temple, Pitt and Lincoln is used to provide in-state tuition discounts of $10,000 per student to Pennsylvania residents who attend the universities.

“I hope Gov. Wolf realizes that using these universities and students as political pawns by withholding their funding was a poor decision,” said Killion. “The legislature has a major philosophical difference with the governor. He wants to increase sales and personal income taxes on Pennsylvania residents and the majority of legislators do not. I think we can find other funding sources for education that do not require us to hit the wallets of taxpayers, such as pension reform and liquor privatization. In the meantime, funding for our state-related universities shouldn’t be held hostage because of policy differences.”

Killion said that, to date, some level of funding through the budget process has been provided to 528 of Pennsylvania’s 532 public schools, including 500 public school districts, 14 community colleges and 14 universities of the State System of Higher Education. The only public schools not funded are Penn State, Temple, Lincoln and Pitt.

Killion’s comments on the House floor Monday can be viewed on his official House website at repkillion.com or on YouTube at http://youtu.be/wZFDTG1cH04.

Representative Thomas Killion
168th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Donna Pinkham
717.260.6452
dpinkham@pahousegop.com
RepKillion.com / Facebook.com/RepKillion
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