How to Create a Better Pennsylvania

The Lifeline Scholarship program would establish Education Opportunity Accounts for families to use toward tutoring, private school tuition, or other educational tools that best meet their kids’ individual needs. Ideally, the state should deposit a portion of the per-pupil education funding into an account for families.

The Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) provide a lifeline for more than 100,000 low- and middle-income students. Scholarship funding comes from businesses that receive a tax credit when they donate. Arbitrary program caps denied nearly 70,000 k-12 student applications in 2024. Pennsylvania should implement an index that automatically expands credits in proportion to student needs.

A refundable tax credit can offset educational expenses for a nonpublic school to allow families, no matter their income, the ability to choose. After enrolling in a nonpublic school, a parent or guardian would claim the tax credit on their annual tax return. The parent would then receive the credit, similar to the Child and Dependent Care Enhancement Tax Credit. Low-income families can receive relief up front.

School districts alone hold a monopoly on authorizing brick-and-mortar charter schools, creating an inherent conflict of interest that stifles charter growth. As a result, there is a charter school waiting list. Twenty states have some form of independent authorizer for these public schools like higher education institutions or nongovernmental agencies.

Pennsylvania students should have access to any public school, regardless of their zip code. Today, families can request a transfer to another district, but the home school district can refuse. Families should be empowered to choose the school that best meets their children’s unique needs regardless of their address. Pennsylvania should end address discrimination and mandate open enrollment policies that allow families to switch public schools without out-of-pocket costs.  

State funding for public education relies largely on hold harmless, a policy guaranteeing that school districts receive the same amount of state funding as the previous year, regardless of enrollment fluctuations. Lawmakers should reform education funding so money follows the child.   

Pennsylvania state government has historically overspent in good economic times, requiring tax hikes following recessions. The TPA is a constitutional amendment, based on successful reform in Colorado. TPA is a long-term solution to control spending. The TPA limits spending growth to an index based on inflation and population growth to keep government spending in line with taxpayers’ ability to pay.  If the TPA was enacted in 2019, taxpayers would have saved $1,779 or $7,115 per family of four. 

Pennsylvania imposes more than 160,000 regulations, which exert a significant drag on the economy. Any regulation costing more than $1 million should require legislative approval. Pennsylvania should also allow legislative repeal of a regulation by concurrent resolution and establish a systematic process to eliminate harmful or outdated regulations.

Pennsylvania is scheduled to reduce the Corporate Net Income Tax (CNIT) from 6.99% in 2027 to 4.99% in 2031. Meanwhile, lawmakers dole out nearly $2 billion in corporate handouts. Pennsylvania should redirect these dollars to accelerate the CNIT decline, helping all businesses. Moreover, they should lower the Personal Income Tax to 2.8%, along with elimination of the electricity gross receipts tax to make the commonwealth competitive.

Pennsylvania’s pension systems remain seriously underfunded. Switching all state employees and teachers from defined benefit or hybrid plans to 401(k) style defined contribution retirement plans presents less risk to taxpayers and benefits workers, allowing them to change jobs and not worry about losing retirement savings. Additionally, defined contribution plans offer similar levels of retirement income as defined benefit plans.

Pennsylvania’s correction system should promote reintegration to improve community safety. More than 80 percent of inmates will return to society. Removing government barriers to job training, licensing, housing and transportation reduce recidivism and preserve resources for high-risk offenders. 

The current government-run liquor monopoly is a financial drain and a consumer headache. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) holds a $815,000 liability. Moreover, the PLCB constantly loses customers to other nearby states through “border bleed.” A private system would increase choice, convenience, and customer service.

Pennsylvania’s election laws need updated to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat. Voter identification protects the integrity of our elections, helping to restore trust in our institutions.

Pennsylvania’s energy costs are rising. Pennsylvania should reject subsidies like the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards. These green energy subsidies cost ratepayers $700 million a year and reduce reliability.

Net metering is another subsidy for unreliable energy, utilities should pay those returning energy to the grid through small-scale solar panels or wind mills at wholesale rates, not the retail rates that factor in the cost of distribution and transmission they do not maintain.

Ensure large energy consumers can bring their own energy free of mandates for unreliable green energy. New large consumers should also pay for the transmission and distribution upgrades they require.

During the RGGI experiment, Pennsylvania stopped building new reliable power plants. Regulatory reform that expands “deemed approved” permitting, rejecting new production taxes, and litigation reform will help Pennsylvania attract more reliable power to drive down the cost of electricity.

By federal law, healthy adults must work, train, or volunteer to maintain Medicaid or SNAP (Food Stamps) benefits. State lawmakers should enshrine work requirements in state law.

Adults subject to work requirements must verify eligibility every six months. Lawmakers should require the Auditor General to conduct regular Medicaid eligibility audits and provider performance audits to stop wasteful spending and improper eligibility determinations.

Pennsylvania licensing restricts health care professionals like Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Anesthetists from practicing up to their training, artificially limiting access to care. Overall, Pennsylvania licenses over one hundred occupations including 50 lower-income occupations. Pennsylvania should reduce and eliminate outmoded licensing laws that discourage employment.

Prevailing Wage mandates a higher wage on government construction projects costing more than $25,000. Raising the threshold or eliminating these requirements will reduce costs. Six states recently repealed their prevailing wage laws and saw cost savings. Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) add complicated rules to construction projects and often mandate the use of union-only labor. Yet, more than 80 percent of Pennsylvanian’s construction industry workers belong to non-union shops. PLAs discourage local hiring and raise costs.

Paycheck protection would stop government unions from using taxpayer-funded resources to collect money used for politics. Using taxpayer resources to collect political contributions is already illegal for elected officials. Government labor union executives should not have access to this special privilege. 

The initial unionization votes by teachers and most other government employees occurred more than 50 years ago. Often, government unions win the right to represent workers without majority support. Government unions should be held accountable to their members by undergoing regular recertification elections. Union workers deserve to choose which union represents them.

Since the 2018 Janus decision, Pennsylvania’s five largest government unions have lost 15,300 members and 29,000 fair share fee payers. In response, government unions are organizing new workplaces. Requiring employers to notify employees of their rights under Janus can help thousands of workers escape unwanted union membership.

Union executives benefit from the “maintenance of membership” clause, which limits member resignations to a brief 15-day period at the end of an often-multiyear collective bargaining agreement. This is not fair to workers; an employee should always have the freedom to resign from union membership.