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Corbett Tours Microsoft Office In Malvern, Says School Districts Will Have To Deal With Budget Cuts

MALVERN, Pa. (CBS) - The high-tech behemoth Microsoft Corporation has opened a state-of-the-art technology center in Chester County, Pa.

At the end of Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett's visit to the facility today, reporters raised questions related to the governor's next budget, unveiled yesterday in Harrisburg (see related story).

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (left) walked the governor through the more-than-17,000-square-foot complex that is chock full of hardware, software, training tools, and expertise to help customers with technology solutions.

"We wanted to have a place to spark people's imagination, and really have the expertise to bootstrap," Ballmer told reporters.

After the tour, the governor (back to camera) was asked whether his budget, which makes deep cuts for public schools, will result in massive tax increases at the local level to cover school costs.

"I think every district will have to look at it on their own," Corbett responded.

He recommends that if individual districts have tax increases "in excess of the rate of inflation," there be a ballot question rather than have politicians or school boards decide how to pay for it.

"And you let the people in that district make that decision," Corbett said.

Reported by Steve Tawa, KYW Newsradio 1060.

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