Crediting teamwork for obtaining an extra $9.6 million for Allentown School District, state Rep. Mike Schlossberg, D-132nd, nonetheless said a GOP-crafted 2013-2014 budget could not secure his vote because it fell too short in funding education, transportation and other critical areas.

Schlossberg said his close work with state Sen. Pat Browne, R-16th, yielded additional state funding to help blunt pain in the Allentown School District, which recently raised property taxes 8.2 percent and laid off 132 employees, including 127 teachers.

"This was a team effort. Senator Browne and I each worked our separate parties and chambers– in a bipartisan manner and with shared passion– to get this done," Schlossberg said. "This is an important step and will enable the Allentown School District to bring back some of the teachers it laid off, restore some of their fund balance and limit the tax hike.

"However, it's not enough– and it won't be enough until we can bring back every teacher laid off over the past three years, restore all the funding that's been cut and more. Priority number one for me is, and always has been, the state's complete restoration of education funding."

Schlossberg said the 2013-2014 state spending plan, strong-armed through the legislature by Republican majority leaders in the state House and Senate, failed to reflect any Democratic priorities, particularly on education and transportation.

As one of four Democrats on the House Transportation Committee who voted to move along a transportation bill, Schlossberg said he was profoundly disappointed the final, GOP-crafted product failed to come close to addressing transportation needs, particularly for mass transit.

"As the weekend evolved, it became apparent that the investment in transportation would not be increasing. As such, I withdrew my support," Schlossberg said. "I remain deeply, deeply committed to a real transportation plan that adequately funds roads, bridges, mass transit, and walking and bike trails. This wasn't it."

Schlossberg said he deeply objects to Republican attempts to blame minority Democrats for the failure of a meaningful transportation bill, as Democrats have consistently been shut out of the governing process for two-and-a-half years.

"We have had virtually zero input on the budget, on liquor privatization, on education cuts, on voter ID and on other issues of legislative significance," Schlossberg said. "Now, all of a sudden, when it becomes apparent that the Republican Party could not find the votes in its own ranks to make transportation happen, it becomes our fault?

"That twisted logic is absurd to anyone who understands basic math. Democratic House members, including me, would have been all too happy to support a robust transportation bill. The Republicans who solidly control our chamber couldn't, or wouldn't provide one."

Schlossberg said he was also troubled the new state spending plan did not reflect two other top Democratic priorities, acceptance of a federally funded expansion of Medicaid and a substantial restoration of state funding for higher education.