Education
Federal Scholarship Tax Credit
Tens of thousands of kids wait-listed for Pennsylvania’s tax credit scholarship programs could receive scholarships under the new federal program. First-Ever Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Program Last July, Congress passed…
Read More: Federal Scholarship Tax CreditPennsylvania’s future is in the hands of the next generation. Parents and students—not activist agendas—should drive the Commonwealth’s education policy. While policymakers have been entrusted with ensuring the next generation receives a quality education, parents should be empowered to choose the quality education that meets their unique child’s needs. Charter schools and tax credit scholarships are integral pieces of school choice, but more reforms are needed to make educational choice a reality for all Pennsylvania students.
Education
Who is to Blame for Schools’ Fiscal Woes?
Many advocates of more tax dollars for education blame Gov. Corbett and “cuts” for budgetary woes in Philadelphia and Reading school districts. But these complaints belie the facts. Over last…
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What’s in the Property Tax Elimination Bill?
This week, the House Finance Committee tabled HB 1776 until the fall to have further discussion. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jim Cox, would eliminate school property taxes and…
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Compromise Would Save Kids, Taxpayers
Politics is the art of compromise, they say. When you have to get at least 102 out of the 203 members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to agree on…
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Why Public Opinion is Turning on Teachers’ Unions
Gil Spencer of the Delaware County Times penned a perceptive column yesterday on the waning popularity of teachers’ unions—and how an angry public is wising up to the unions’…
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Readers Ask, We Answer: Education Spending
A reader asked us to help clarify the claims of Yinzercation blog on state education subsidies. The blogger claims the Corbett administration is being disingenuous about state K-12 education…
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When Districts Choose, Kids Lose
What if you were awaiting a letter to find out where local officials were going to send your child to school next year? What if one of the possibilities was…
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$27B + $15K = What?
The Pennsylvania Department of Education recently released school financial data for the 2010-11 school year. The latest data shows public school spending and revenue increased yet again in 2011,…
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Read More: $27B + $15K = What?Education
School Choice Toolkit
Children at Pennsylvania’s worst-performing schools are frequently subjected to acts of violence. In the worst 140+ schools alone, with some 80,000 children, students faced nearly 10,000 acts of violence in…
Fact Sheet
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Save Our Schools or Save Our Kids?
Throngs of anti-parental choice supporters have rallied in Philadelphia today, demanding more taxpayer dollars for their cause. According to Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Kristen Graham via her Twitter feed @newskag,…
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Why Families Like Cyber and Charter Schools
Nine-year-old Ashley Matunis and her sister, 6-year-old Anna (pictured right), are typical girls who enjoy pizza and pretzels. They are also typical of the kind of students who attend cyber…
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How to Fix What’s Broke in Education
Harrisburg Patriot-News columnist Nancy Eshelman rightly sounded the alarm Sunday on Pennsylvania’s public education system: It’s the same old story. Every spring, threats of higher taxes, slashed programs…
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Cal U Waste Begs for Higher Ed Reform
The Senate’s budget included more funding for state universities than Governor Corbett proposed, but new discoveries of wasteful spending should give lawmakers pause. Gov. Corbett proposed a 30 percent cut…
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Chart: School District Fund Balances Nearly Tripled in 14 Years
PA Independent reported on Monday that Pennsylvania school districts’ fund balances reached $3.2 billion in 2011 (they compiled the data from the PA Department of Education’s (PDE)…
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The Patriot Can Do Better Than This…
Our friends at The Patriot-News here in Harrisburg just posted an online poll that asks the following question: The state Senate has passed a school voucher bill that…
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Philadelphia School District Faces the Budgetary Music
It doesn’t take an advanced degree to figure out that something’s rotten in the school district of Philadelphia—or that school choice is the antidote. More than half of…
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Big Government and the Higher Education Bubble
This past weekend I participated with some middleschoolers in a 30 hour famine to raise money for starving families. As we discussed poverty and debt the leader motioned to me…
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Chart of the Day: Pennsylvania School Revenue per Student
Critics of state spending cuts claim there is a lack of funding for public schools. But from the 1995-96 school year through 2009-10 (the latest year with data available…
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Union Guts More Teaching Jobs
Yes, the chickens are truly coming home to roost. But before status quo apologists cry ‘fowl,’ economic realities due to union strong-arm tactics and unsustainable benefits programs…
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Who are Teacher Unions Protecting?
The Patriot-News published my letter that questions whether teacher unions protect teachers. Union lobbying to create an unsustainable pension program is directly connected to the Central Dauphin School Board’s…
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School Choice: What the Research Says
As the benefits of current school choice programs become clearer, it is time to take our eyes off the past and look towards the future. Jay Green argues that…
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Good Teachers Matter
According to the findings of a National Bureau of Economic Research report, teaching quality is closely reflected by test scores—when looking at a teacher’s impact on students’s test score gains…
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