The governor also called for raising the minimum wage and creating incentives for manufacturing jobs, highlighting national Democratic goals in a state that will host the party’s 2016 presidential convention.
‘Bad Plan’
Republicans, who control both legislative chambers, still expressed skepticism.
“It really is a very, very bad plan, put very simply, for all of Pennsylvania,” Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati told reporters after Wolf’s speech.
Republicans, and even some Democrats, would find it difficult to vote for tax increases because of the risk of primary challenges, said Ryan Shafik, founder of Rockwood Strategies, a Harrisburg consulting firm that works with Republican candidates.
Yet Wolf’s victory by 10 percentage points showed voters consider schools a priority, said Thomas Baldino, who teaches politics at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre.
“If Republicans want to demonstrate that they are hearing what the public wants, they need to work with Wolf on things like education funding,” he said.