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Education
2025 State of Education Spending in Pennsylvania
Overview The national trends impacting education in Pennsylvania in 2025 include an impending fiscal cliff, under-enrolled schools, and population decline, all of which lead to school closures…
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Education
Governor Shapiro’s 2025 Budget Proposal: An Extreme Spending Binge
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Education
2025 State of Education Spending in Pennsylvania
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Lifeline and Education Choice Myths and Facts
Summary Lifeline Scholarships, also known as the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS) program, would offer scholarships ranging from $2,500 to $15,000 per year for students in the commonwealth’s lowest-performing…
Fact Sheet
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Tax Credit Scholarships: An Investment in Educational Opportunity
Summary Pennsylvania scholarship organizations awarded 77,670 K–12 scholarships through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) in the 2021–22 school year. The average 2021–22 scholarship…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Tax Credit Scholarships: An Investment in Educational OpportunityPublic Union Democracy
The Battle for Worker Freedom: How Government Unions Fund Politics Across the Country
Key Findings The four largest government unions, the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and Service Employees International…
Executive Summary
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2023 PSSA Scores Highlight the Need for Educational Opportunity
Summary The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) released Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) scores from spring 2023. Test results show that fourth- and eighth-grade students struggle to…
Fact Sheet
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The Personal Option for Health Care in Pennsylvania
Summary Keep and expand the health care systems that work: Protect Direct Primary Care (DPC) practices. Allow expanded Association Health Plans (AHPs) so small businesses can offer more affordable coverage.
Backgrounder
Read More: The Personal Option for Health Care in PennsylvaniaRegulation
Regulatory Streamlining in Pennsylvania Would Boost Opportunities for State Residents
Introduction Good morning, members of the Senate Majority Policy Committee. My name is James Broughel and I am a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington DC, as…
Testimony
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How Overregulated Is Pennsylvania?
Summary Pennsylvania has a major problem: it’s dangerously overregulated. According to a September 2023 Commonwealth Foundation study, “Cutting Red Tape in Pennsylvania,” the Keystone State enforces a whopping 166,219…
Fact Sheet
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Shapiro’s Legislative Record: Last in Nation Among Divided Governments
Overview An analysis by the Commonwealth Foundation of bills enacted in the first half of 2023 reveals Pennsylvania has been the least productive among states with divided government. This analysis…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Shapiro’s Legislative Record: Last in Nation Among Divided GovernmentsRegulation
Cutting Red Tape in Pennsylvania
This report presents findings from Mercatus Center’s State RegData database, analyzing regulations in the Pennsylvania Code as of 2022. The report provides an overview of state regulations, how Pennsylvania’s regulatory…
Executive Summary
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Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) Mandates in Pennsylvania
Key Points Studies show adopting Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) criteria is not associated with better labor or environmental regulatory compliance. Emerging studies show ESG criteria are associated with lower…
Backgrounder
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Government Union Contracts Increase Again
Summary Pennsylvania elected officials routinely and secretly negotiate billion-dollar labor contracts with government union leaders from whom they often receive political donations. These labor contracts are a major cost of…
Fact Sheet
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Pa. Back to School Public Education Trends
Overview As students head back to school, there are many claims of teacher shortages and funding shortfalls. In reality, public school spending is at a record high, and Pennsylvania ranks…
Backgrounder
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Takeaways from the Unfinished 2023–24 State Budget
Summary The state budget remains unfinished. While Gov. Josh Shapiro signed off on the general appropriation bill (House Bill 611), authorizing more than $40 billion in state general fund spending,…
Fact Sheet
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Shapiro’s First Six Months Least Productive Legislatively in 50 Years
Overview An analysis by the Commonwealth Foundation of bills signed reveals Gov. Josh Shapiro’s first six months were the least productive of any gubernatorial term in at least 50 years.
Fact Sheet
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Lifeline (PASS) Scholarship Program
Overview Lifeline Scholarships, also known as the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS) program, would offer an Education Opportunity Account (EOA) to any student residing in a school ranked in…
Fact Sheet
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Lifeline Scholarship Program
Overview Lifeline Scholarships (Senate Bill 795 and House Bill 1432) offer an Education Opportunity Account (EOA) to students residing in a school ranked in the bottom 15 percent…
Fact Sheet
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How Pa. Can Show it is Open for Business
Summary Pennsylvania’s economy is performing poorly with high unemployment, low labor force participation, and lackluster job growth. Roughly 40,000 residents left the state last year because of poor economic conditions…
Fact Sheet
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Assisting Students in Economically Disadvantaged Schools
Overview The Economically Disadvantaged School component of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) provides supplementary scholarships for Pennsylvania students receiving scholarships and attending private schools with the greatest financial need.
Fact Sheet
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Education Choice Myths and Facts
School Choice Saves Money While Saving Kids School choice reforms are significantly less costly than average per-pupil spending at public schools, which is over $21,200.[1] In contrast, the…
Fact Sheet
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Pa. Education Funding Spikes Again
Key Points Pennsylvania school district spending per student increased to $21,263 in 2021–22. State support of public education is up 55.7 percent over the last decade, reaching an all-time high…
Backgrounder
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Education Opportunity Accounts in Practice
Key Points Education Opportunity Accounts (EOAs) are transformative, flexible-use accounts funded by state tax dollars.Program Administration: The Pennsylvania Treasury is the ideal administrator at the state level and may contract…
Backgrounder
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