Pennsylvania Senate plans override vote as school loans rise

Pennsylvania school districts have had to take out more loans to survive the state's budget impasse, with total borrowing now at $431 million, Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said on Wednesday.

If the Republican-led legislature can not strike a budget deal with Democratic Governor Tom Wolf by late November, another 54 school districts will have to borrow close to an estimated $250 million, he said.

In the Senate, 33 votes are needed to override Mr. Wolf's September 29 veto of the $11 billion Republican spending package that sought to release billions in federal dollars. In his floor comments, he singled out superintendents from Democrats' districts who were in Harrisburg on Wednesday.

"You think they care whether this is temporary money?" "I think they care that their doors are going to stay open, that they can pay their employees, that parents in their districts won't have to face the decision: What am I going to do with my kids while I'm working a full day because their school is closed?"

Wolf also is seeking legislative approval of an extra $7.5 million to provide more naloxone to police and expand treatment options for addicts. "Educating Pennsylvanians on how to use naloxone in case of an emergency is essential to curbing the devastating number of opioid-related overdose deaths that we have seen in the commonwealth over the past several years".

He called on both parties in state government to come up with a budget solution as soon as possible.