Governor Corbett- This is a tough time for all of Pennsylvania and our nation as a whole.

I have lived in Pennsylvania all my life, just like yourself, and my father owns his own company right here in this state as well. I have seen the effects of the downward spiraling economy as it as slowed my fathers business and he was forced to lay people off, which my father hates to do. All my life my father has taught me the lessons of loyalty; when workers have struggled or were not doing their job as good as they should have, I often asked why he didnt let them go. He told me that person has been here for 20 years, or that person has been here for 25. They have been loyal to my father so he returns that loyalty just as equally. I understand you have been tasked with trying to balance budget that for many years has been led astray. For so long we have been spending more than we take in, a procedure you have rightly ended. I applaud you for making that a priority, as I firmly believe it should be. However Mr. Governor, I feel your budget has made two mistakes that I would like to address with you today. The issues of education spending cuts as well as the lack of a severance tax on natural gas. Currently, I am a freshman at the Pennsylvania State University. I take pride in going to a school that bears our states name. I take pride in a school that the student body raised 9.5 million dollars this year for pediatric cancer. Our agricultural sciences program has come out with studies that directly help our local Pennsylvania farmers. I will be honest and say I have been privileged in my life not to have to pay for my own college other than my books and expenses while I am here. My parents have graciously provided me with an education. In truth, these cuts on education, although it will affect my parents and myself, will not disallow me from attending college as my parents place such a high premium on getting an education. I do worry for those students who are paying their own way for college. I would like to first discuss the cuts to higher education. Pennsylvania has 14 state-funded schools that allow our fellow Pennsylvanians to attend an in-state institution with in-state tuition. It provides the opportunity for students who cant afford to go to a private or out-of-state college or university with a chance to get a degree right here. That is the key; we are keeping the bright students within our state. It is no surprise that many students get their first job around or relatively close to the university from which they received there degree as recruiters from local businesses come to get the top students. So

why not do our best to make sure students stay here. We both take pride in our state and having the top students leave and not return is something I think we can agree must not happen. Next, I would like to talk about the cuts in spending on K-12 education. As a Governor of this state, I am sure you take pride in providing a strong education to the citizens. I ask you to put yourself in the place of all the parents of children in our state. As a parent, I know this must be easier for you than it is for me, think of the education you would want your children to receive if they had to go through the public school system right now. You would want the best for them as any parent would. We should take pride in offering the children of the state with a great education, which may be get harder to if the proposed budget cuts do go through. With the No Child Left Behind Act passed, much of the funding a school gets no becomes based on whether or not the school does well on standardized tests; for us current and former PA students, the dreaded PSSAs. My mother is a substitute teacher at the local elementary schools and knows the pressure on the school to do well on the exams. That is why a cut in the spending on primary education is a double-edged sword. I fear that cutting the funding will make schools teach with an aim towards a standardized test so they do not lose even more funding then they already are. Would you really want your children to be learning how to take standardized tests or rather wouldnt you want them to learn for the sake of getting an education? Education is key in this new globalized world and economy. I know you want to bring business into our communities and what better way to do that then build up human capital. Businesses look to move their companies to an area where they have a readily and easily accessible educated workforce. So what better way to bring them in by knowing that they are coming to a state that prides itself on the education of its citizens? Also, let us not forget that many business owners are parents and their workers are parents. If they are to move their business, they will surely look into the education their children will receive much like when a family buys a house in a new neighborhood they too want to know the quality of the public schools. So let us use education as a tool to attract business to boost our economy. It truly is the best of both worlds.

I now turn our attention to the issue concerning the natural gas tax. I fully understand your theory that not having a tax will encourage companies to build their headquarters here which will only bring more revenue to the state and jobs. However, I do not believe that a severance tax on natural gas will scare these companies away as PA, of the largest 15 natural gas producing states, is the only one without a severance tax. The owners of these companies are not dumb and they are not going to walk away from the billions of dollars of profit they lay beneath our land. Also, PA is situated in the large Northeast market that places high demand on natural gas, therefore making transportation costs lower for the companies already, so they are already saving money there. I am aware that tax would only generate roughly 200 million in extra revenue, which will not solve our deficit but that revenue is needed nonetheless. With all the drilling of wells, there is going to be an increased demand on the Department of Environmental Protection to make sure that all the wells are working within regulation. They will need increased funding to account for the extra workers they will need to hire, which will give people jobs. The infrastructure of many towns will also need to be built up as with the heavy equipment roads and bridges will be damaged and will need repair. That should not fall on the municipalities to pay for it. They deserve some of that revenue generated from a tax. As a Pennsylvanian, I take pride in our natural landscape. We are blessed with beautiful rivers, lakes and forests and I fear for the environmental degradation that may be caused. I am not saying that we should not drill, but I am saying a tax can be used to reinvest into our natural landscape through re-forestation and pollution clean-up programs. There is no use in denying it, there will be environmental degradation will drilling; pollution will happen. That tax once again can be turned around to protect and prevent our natural landscapes and combat the pollution. This is where we all live and I am sure you want to know that you as well as every other Pennsylvanian that the environment is healthy and conducive to our good health. A company should not be allowed to come in and harm our environment without paying a price to help clean up the mess that may be, and most likely will be, caused. Governor Corbett, I fully respect the challenge that has been laid before you and it certainly is not an easy one. I fully understand that cuts will happen; our way of life

needs to have a change. As always it will be near impossible to please everyone so I ask you to put yourself in the shoes of parents and a Pennsylvanian, which considering you are both should not be difficult for you. I live in the Wilkes-Barre and Scranton area, a region that has been defined recently as a struggling former coal region. Our area had the resource boom at one time, just like the areas with natural gas are now. The economy boomed and life was great but then we ran out of that black gold. Our area did not have anything to fall back on when the coal companies left and we were left with rampant pollution. I fear the same plummet awaits these gas-lands in the future. So I plead with you to not let this happen. If education spending must cut, please do so at a lesser extent. Let education be our fall back. Let education build the infrastructure of our state. Help prevent the environmental degradation that awaits us if gas companies are not held to pay for the problems they will cause. Remember the loyalty you have to the citizens who have elected you and not the large gas companies. We have been here for a lot longer of time then they have. So Mr. Governor, I urge you to reconsider your budget proposal and do not loose sight of our future, because although the near is bright the distant may not be if the proper steps are not taken.