ZELIENOPLE — Some educators who came to a legislative meet-and-greet session Thursday complained that the latest state budget does not provide as much money as they thought would be forthcoming.

The meeting, hosted by state Rep. Jim Marshall, R-14th, and state Sen. Elder Vogel, R-47th, attracted about 20 residents and educators from Beaver and Butler counties to the Butler County Tourism Building.

One concern brought up to both state officials was money for schools stemming from the nearly nine-month long budget impasse that ended last month.

Melanie Kerber, superintendent for the Blackhawk School District in Beaver Falls, said while the school district was able to hold off from borrowing money, its fund balance is “dangerously low.”

“We’ve waited about nine months for a budget, only to find out the budget that’s coming to us is going to be $125,000 less than what we were getting before,” Kerber said. “I was hopeful, probably in a naive way that by waiting we were going to receive as much, if not more.

“This is tomorrow’s leaders who are paying the price,” she said.

Vogel and Marshall called getting the budget passed in the House a “partial victory.”

“It was long overdue for being done,” Vogel said.

The budget became law on March 28 without the governor’s signature.

Gov. Tom Wolf, however, vetoed the state fiscal code, which lays out how the money will be spent.

In a March 23 statement from the governor’s office, press secretary Jeff Sheridan gave the following explanation on Wolf’s then-pending veto of the fiscal code:

“The governor will veto the fiscal code because it contains unconstitutional provisions, guts important environmental regulations, and tries to establish legislative authority over issues that fall under executive jurisdiction.

“The Wolf Administration will work to distribute the funding provided in the general appropriations bill in the most appropriate manner possible, just as the administration did in December when the governor signed a partial general appropriations bill that was without an accompanying fiscal code because the Legislature did not pass one.”

Marshall said the governor’s veto of the fiscal code was “disappointing.”

“It still wasn’t driving funding out to schools in the manner that we agreed to,” Marshall said.

With the new budget year approaching in July, both officials said the Legislature is in “crunch mode.” Vogel, however, said there is good news for the state’s deficit.

“Revenue has been improving for the past several weeks,” Vogel said. “The amount of tax revenue we collected in the state has gone up substantially. That’s going to take a lot of the heat off the deficit we have.”

Vogel said the overall deficit has decreased about $1.5 billion because of collected tax revenue.

Other people showed support for the state officials.

The downturn of the natural gas industry was another concern brought up.

Roger Leight, a Prospect resident, was laid off from his job as an independent contractor for a Butler County natural gas company, which he would not elaborate on.

“There were tens of thousands of jobs lost in Pennsylvania alone. Good people lost their jobs,” he said. “Up until three weeks ago, I was still working, but I was the last man standing in my area.”

He also said he wishes to see cheaper oil prices.

Marshall said he hopes for the industry to be on an upswing again soon.

“They’re certainly a great job creator in Pennsylvania,” he said.