Gov. Ed Rendell said this week he has no confidence a revenue-raising table games bill will arrive on his desk for his signature by his January 8 deadline. So he has ordered his Cabinet secretaries to identify 1,000 to 1,200 positions in their departments to furlough.

“We were able to do this last year without closing any State Parks,” he said. If the table games bill does not pass by his deadline, leading to 1,000 to 1,200 layoffs, Gov. Rendell said: “We are going to have to close a lot more State Parks, … perhaps the State Museum.”

Gov. Rendell is ordering the cuts even though he said last week the fiscal year would end with a$124 million surplus. Although no figures were released on what 1,000 to 1,200 furloughs would save the state, even a back of the envelope calculation shows it would be much less than $30 million and even less than that when unemployment benefits are included.

During an end-of-year interview this week, Gov. Rendell said he will push for even more school funding next year, along with a first-ever natural gas severance tax when he presents his last proposed budget in February. He also said he would push for electric rate cap relief.