Accomplishments

  • The Commonwealth Foundation’s ongoing work to expand school choice has greatly strengthened the charter school movement and grown tax credit scholarship programs. Most recently, we achieved a $40-million increase in the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) Scholarship in 2021, providing options for an estimated 13,000 students and families.
  • In 2017, the Commonwealth Foundation educated lawmakers to help advance a monumental pension reform bill that was the largest-ever shift of taxpayer liability in Pennsylvania history.
  • We've become the go-to source of free-market ideas and policy solutions in Pennsylvania on issues ranging from school choice and public sector labor reform to spending limits and regulations. Our team of experts has their fingers on the pulse in Harrisburg, and we’re a trusted source of information for lawmakers.
  • We’ve been recognized as a national leader in the freedom movement with awards from organizations such as the Heritage Foundation, State Policy Network, and Atlas Network. Our policy innovation in school choice, fiscal responsibility, and reining in executive overreach has provided the blueprint for other states to follow.

The Commonwealth Foundation is taking Pennsylvania’s public policy back to its roots in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, where we were “conceived in liberty.” Today, individual liberty and personal responsibility are still the solutions to most of our state’s systemic problems. For too long, Pennsylvania has allowed bureaucrats and special interests to drive our schools and local businesses into the ground while driving up spending and taxes. We believe all Pennsylvanians will flourish if Harrisburg gets out of the way—so we work with lawmakers to enact state policies that make you prosperous and independent.