Governor Tom Wolf- We can get Pennsylvania’s schools back on track

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Watch and share Governor Tom Wolf's plan to reinvest in Pennsylvania schools.

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Pennsylvania schools are suffering from underfunding and a lack of resources.

The commonwealth ranks 45th in the nation in percentage of state funding for public education, and as a result, we have seen larger class sizes, fewer teachers, and vital program cuts.

This is intolerable.

In order to provide our young people with the educational foundation necessary to be successful, we need to raise new revenue for our state’s public education system.

And we can start by passing a commonsense severance tax that will help fund our schools.

Pennsylvania is the only major gas-producing state that doesn’t tax oil and natural gas extraction – and we’re failing to do so at a time when our schools are struggling.

To help fund our education system, I am proposing a reasonable 5% severance tax plus 4.7 cents per thousand feet of volume that is modeled after the extraction tax in neighboring West Virginia.

Implementing a similar structure to our neighbor’s will eliminate competition based on taxation, allowing the industry to develop where wells can be sited most profitably and safely.

My proposal would not be on top of the existing impact fee, but includes it. Communities impacted by drilling would continue to receive impact fee payments.

If we are going to be competitive in the 21st century economy, Pennsylvania must take the lead in investing in early childhood, K-12, and higher education.

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Governor Tom Wolf

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