May 8, 2008 | Policy Report by MICHAEL BOND

Medicaid Reform: Mending the Holes in Pennsylvanias Health Care Safety Net

Politicians and school officials frequently point to student performance  on state tests as a primary measure of the quality of public education.  According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) “is a standards based criterion-referenced assessment used to measure a student’s attainment of the academic standards while also determining the degree to which school programs enable students to attain proficiency of the standards.”

March 10, 2008 | Policy Report by NATHAN BENEFIELD, MATTHEW BROUILLETTE

Government on a Diet: Spending Tips 2008

State government consumption and spending of taxpayer money has grown rapidly over the years. Since 1970, Pennsylvania’s operating budget increased from $4.2 billion to $59 billion in FY 2007-2008, an inflation-adjusted increase of over 168%. As a share of personal income, the state’s operating budget rose from 8.8% in FY 1970-1971 to an estimated 12.2% in FY 2007-2008—an increase of more than 39%.

July 26, 2007 | Policy Report by NATHAN BENEFIELD, ROBERT MARANTO, JASON O'BRIEN

Edifice Complex: Where Has All the Money Gone?

From the 1986-87 to 2005-06 school years, taxpayer spending on Pennsylvania’s government-run K-12 schools increased from $6.6 billion to almost $22 billion—a 72% increase after adjusting for inflation. Between 1996-97 and 2005-2006, Pennsylvania’s public schools added over 43,000 staff—teachers, administrators, and support staff—while enrollment increased by only 26,000. Thus, for every new student, schools added 1.6 staff.

March 6, 2007 | Policy Report by MATTHEW BROUILLETTE, GEOFFREY F. SEGAL, ADRIAN T. MOORE

The Emerging Paradigm: Financing and Managing Pennsylvanias Transportation Infrastructure and Mass Transit

In November 2006, Governor Ed Rendell’s Pennsylvania Transportation Funding and Reform Commission identified a $1.7 billion annual shortfall in funding for the Commonwealth’s transportation infrastructure and mass transit services. The Commission suggested an additional $900 million for state highways and bridges, $65 million for local highways and bridges, and $700 million for mass transit is needed on an annual basis to sufficiently meet Pennsylvania’s transportation funding needs.

May 30, 2006 | Policy Report by NATHAN BENEFIELD, JENNIFER A. SYNDER

Pennsylvania Piglet Book 2006

The Pennsylvania Piglet Book 2006 is the joint effort of the Commonwealth Foundation and Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) to make the citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania aware of wasteful spending of their tax dollars in the annual state budget. The Piglet Book identifies programs of greatest waste in the 2005-06 Pennsylvania budget and Governor Ed Rendell’s 2006-07 proposed budget. It identifies cuts that should be made, and encourages lawmakers to focus government spending only on those core functions that truly serve the public good.

February 23, 2006 | Policy Report by RICHARD DREYFUSS

Beneath the Surface: Pennsylvania's Looming Pension and Healthcare Benefits Crisis

Pennsylvania government employee-benefit plans operate in a vacuum. In a world where private-sector benefit cutbacks and cost reductions occur on a daily basis, state government in Harrisburg has not responded in similar fashion. In fact, instead of reducing the potential for financial disaster, actions in recent years have served to accelerate the coming crisis.

September 13, 2005 | Policy Report by DAVID A. MACPHERSON

The Effects of the Proposed Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Increase

In recent years, the movement to enact “living wages” or increases in the minimum wage has been active in states and cities across the country. Advocates of these wage hikes argue that the increases will help low-income families escape poverty. While emotionally compelling, this argument ignores the unintended consequences the proposed increase would create. Worse, the mandated increase confers its benefits overwhelmingly on employees who aren’t poor, while those who are bear a disproportionate share of the costs.

June 29, 2005 | Policy Report by COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION

Rail Disasters 2005

This paper reviews ridership and other transit data published by the Federal Transit Administration from 1982 through 2003, plus 2004 ridership data published by the American Public Transportation Association, to determine the long-term eff ects of rail transit on transit ridership. Th e report also uses 1982–2003 data on miles of driving in each urban area published by the Federal Highway Administration to determine changes in transit’s share of egional travel. The report shows that:

March 23, 2005 | Policy Report by JOEL SCHWARTZ & GEORGE TAYLOR

Air Quality False Alarm: An Analysis of the Natural Resource Defense Councils Heat Advisory Report

This report shows that air pollution will decline in the future, regardless of whether there is global warming, and that NRDC exaggerates likely future temperature increases in any case. Section II lays out the major points of our critique of the NRDC report. Section III includes specific responses to the report’s claims. Section IV displays trends in air pollution and temperature in a number of metropolitan areas, including the fifteen areas that NRDC focuses on in its report.

February 1, 2004 | Policy Report by RANDAL O'TOOLE, GRANT R. GULIBON

Great Rail Disasters: The Impact of Rail Transit on Urban Livability

Abstract

This paper grades rail transit in twenty-three urban areas on thirteen different criteria: