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…
Read More: 2025 State of Education Spending in PennsylvaniaPennsylvania’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 school choice a reality for all Pennsylvania students.
Education
Is Full-Day Kindergarten All Supporters Claim it to Be?
Gov. Corbett’s proposed budget includes cutting Pennsylvania’s Accountability Block Grant (ABG). Among the areas Accountability Block Grants can be use for is full-day Kindergarten programs at school districts. While…
Media
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Spending for Higher Education Doesn’t Create Economic Growth
The Coleman Report, published in 1966, and subsequent experience and analysis has demolished the idea that inputs alone are very useful in explaining the output of K-12. As the college…
Commentary
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Saving Our School Boards
Schools must be able to furlough teachers based on a broad-based assessment of student needs, not a last-in/first-out requirement that ignores teachers' classroom performance, ability to connect with students, grasp…
Commentary
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The Governor is Right and the Union Bosses are Wrong
I’m in Pittsburgh today, but I can hear the shouting in Harrisburg from here: Union bosses are hopping mad at Gov. Tom Corbett for calling them out in his…
Media
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Senate Passes Furlough Bill, but Keeps “Last In First Out”
Today, the Pennsylvania Senate passed SB 612 by a 38-12 count. The bill, sponsored by Senator Folmer, would give school districts the ability to furlough teachers and other school…
Media
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Corbett’s Case for School Choice
Gov. Tom Corbett delivered the following speech at the American Federation for Children conference at the Washington Marriott in Washington D.C. on Monday, May 9, 2011. What isn’t working about public…
Media
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PA House Passes Expansion of Scholarship Tax Credit
The Pennsylvania House today passed, on a 190-7 vote, HB 1330, which would expand the amount of tax credits available through Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC), and increase income…
Media
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Bad Economists and Good Budget Cuts
Yesterday in the Patriot-News, yet another Penn State administrator campaigned against Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed cuts to the generous subsidies our public universities receive from taxpayers (many of which…
Media
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Of School Choice and Government-Run Swimming Pools
Responding to a letter I wrote, a letter in the Allentown Morning Call attempts to make the case that school vouchers are a bad idea—using the rationale that…
Media
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On School Spending “Cuts”
A reader writes in, noting that a school board member is pushing the “stop the billion dollar cut” campaign, and asking for some info. Here are some quick facts.
Media
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Has Penn State “bin Laden” with Speech-Squelching Policies?
Our friends at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) say yes: The announcement late last evening that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan…
Media
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Property Taxpayer Referendum
Good afternoon. I am Nathan Benefield, Director of Policy Research for the Commonwealth Foundation. We are a nonprofit, independent public policy research and educational institute based in Harrisburg. I would…
Testimony
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PSU: Progress Seems Underway
On March 8, Gov. Tom Corbett started a statewide conversation about higher education through his budget address, in which he proposed significant cuts in the subsidies Pennsylvania public universities receive…
Media
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When Bell Bottoms Were Cool…And PSU Charged $675
I just sent the following to a student at Penn State who is writing a paper on Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed cuts to the subsidies our public universities receive from…
Media
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A Pitt Student’s Take on Corbett’s Budget Proposal
As a Pitt student, I will not be joining in those manufactured protests, nor will I be participating in lobbying activities like Pitt's yearly "Harrisburg Day" when the University spends…
Commentary
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Understanding Real vs. “Sticker Price” Tuition
A common misconception in debating higher education funding is that the posted rate of tuition, or “sticker price,” is what students actually pay. This is exemplified in a commentary…
Media
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School Choice Advancing in Indiana, Tennessee
While the Pennsylvania Senate continues to deliberate on Senate Bill 1, school choice is moving along in several other states as well. Last…
Media
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Provost Spins Unsuccessfully
I used to be one of those people who have Google Alerts set for their names. I’m not anymore, so it’s come to my attention only belatedly that on April…
Media
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Taxpayers Can Double their “Return on Investment” on Higher Ed
Penn State’s provost Rodney Erickson tries to undercut Michael Poliakoff & Charles Mitchell in a recent op-ed. His concluding argument is that “out of every $1 invested in…
Media
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School Taxpayer Referendum & Property Tax Relief
Gov. Tom Corbett's FY 2011-12 budget proposal includes $63.6 billion in total operating spending—$27.3 billion in General Fund spending—a reduction of $3.3 billion from FY 2010-11. This budget restores overall…
Fact Sheet
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On Higher Ed, Will Legislators Choose the ObamaCare Approach?
This week in the Wall Street Journal, columnist William McGurn had an excellent piece on higher education (subscription required). He wrote mostly about federal policy—and on that point…
Media
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