Education

New Legislation Tackles the EITC and OSTC Waiting List

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • June 15, 2018

The Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs have offered lifelines to hundreds of thousands of low to moderate-income Pennsylvania students. Yet many…

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Education

EITC In Context

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 14, 2018

Pennsylvania’s Education Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) provide tax credit scholarships to low and moderate-income students. These scholarships are lifelines for tens of…

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Education

Troubling Features of Pa. Teacher Contracts

  • Jessica Barnett
  • June 14, 2018

Union-negotiated collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) dictate the compensation packages and workplace conditions of over 100,000 teachers in Pennsylvania's 500 school districts—regardless of their union membership. As the “exclusive representative” of all teachers…

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State Budget

Time for Welfare Work Requirements

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • June 13, 2018

Yesterday, welfare work requirement bills HB 2138 and HB 1659 moved out of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. This move ensures welfare reform will be a focus…

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Regulation

Government Job Creation is a Myth

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 12, 2018

Can government create jobs? If you ask Gov. Tom Wolf, you won’t get a straight answer. On the one hand, Wolf promised Amazon millions—likely billions—in taxpayer subsidies to build a…

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State Budget

5 Reasons We Need the Taxpayer Protection Act Now

  • June 12, 2018

Gov. Wolf has been pretty optimistic about Pennsylvania’s finances going into budget negotiations for fiscal year 2018-19. Although it’s true the state is not staring down a $2 billion…

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Education

Scholarship Organizations Bring Educational Freedom to Thousands

  • Colleen Hroncich
  • June 11, 2018

Pennsylvania’s tax credit scholarship programs are lifelines for thousands of children around the state. At best, these children would be stuck in schools that aren’t meeting their education needs. At…

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Education

A Choice for All Students

  • Charles Mitchell
  • June 10, 2018

Barbara “Annie” Jackson waitresses at Roxy's Café just a short walk away from the Capitol building in Harrisburg. Eight months pregnant, Annie serves steaming plates of eggs and mugs of hot coffee…

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Education

The Truth about Education Spending in PA

  • June 8, 2018

Data from Pennsylvania's Department of Education refute the persistent myth that Pennsylvania public schools are underfunded. See the charts below for 2016-17 statistics on school spending, an update on where Pa.

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