State budget cuts for public education impacts every school district in one way or another.

Using that as their main platform, one state senator, a candidate for a state office and a local school board director held a news conference Tuesday afternoon in Palmerton Town Park.Sen. Mike Stack of Philadelphia was joined by Patti Borger, candidate for House District 122; and Rocky Ahner, director of Lehighton Area School Board, at the site.Stack focused his discussion on the impact of nearly $1 billion in state funding cuts since Gov. Tom Corbett took office in 2011.Those budget cuts have had a huge impact on educators throughout the state, Stack said, adding that those budget cuts have resulted in the loss of over 27,000 educators from classrooms.He then spoke of the school (S.S. Palmer Elementary) located across the street from the park, and noted how schools such as these are impacted by those budget cuts.Still, Stack said valuable programs have been drastically cut or mishandled by Corbett."We can do better, and we really need a fresh start in Pennsylvania," Stack said.Borger said that in the midst of these budget cuts, school districts have been forced to increase property taxes, which she said have "skyrocketed."In addition, Borger took Corbett to task for not taxing Marcellus Shale."Enough is enough," she said. "It's time for a fresh start in Pennsylvania, and a fresh start in Carbon County."Corbett has proposed no increase in the state's basic education subsidy, the primary way districts receive state funding. Instead, he has proposed new school funding through new block grants.For the third year in a row, Corbett's proposed state budget for 2014-15 would not restore those funds.Ahner noted that basic education funding has been level for years."I think it's time to do something," Ahner said. "They give us money, and you can't use it."Later Tuesday Stack; Hope Smith, candidate for HD-176; and Mark Aurand, candidate for SD-40, were scheduled to hold a news conference on the same matter at the Monroe County Democrats' Office in Stroudsburg.