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
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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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The Really Devastating Thing Would Be a Tax Increase
My wife and I returned to Pennsylvania last year, and boy, are we feeling welcome right now. The warm fuzzies really took over earlier today when my wife called to…
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A Diet for Higher Education
Sunday, the Post Gazette published an article from our friends at the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. They argue there is no relationship between state appropriations and…
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Union Think Tank Continues Assault on School Choice
The union-backed Keystone Research Center (KRC) released a so-called study of Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC). Not surprisingly, this study is an attack against tax credits for private…
Media
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School Choice Bill Introduced in PA House
While the debate over SB 1 continues over in the Pennsylvania Senate, Rep. Tom Quigley has introduced HB 1330 in the other chamber. HB 1330 would expand the Educational…
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Can’t Cut, Can We?
While Pennsylvania’s public universities continue to cry poverty, pesky facts keep proving otherwise. Here’s a snippet from a piece by Debra Erdley in yesterday’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Professors at…
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Washington Is Watching Harrisburg
Two writers for Politico recently opined that when it comes to getting spending under control, “the most sweeping work is getting done in states”—and they said the folks in…
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School Choice and Polling
Yesterday, a slew of acronym organizations who want more taxpayer funding for public schools released yet another survey they commissioned trying to undermine school choice. (This survey contradicts previous polls…
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Millions Funneled to Lobbyists by Public Schools
Harrisburg, PA – The Commonwealth Foundation announced today preliminary results from extensive Open Records Requests that found more than $59 million dollars of taxpayer money is being funneled through…
Press Release
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SB 1 Expands to Include More Middle Class Families
Today, Senate Bill 1—legislation to expand school choice for Pennsylvania families—was amended and passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The amendment increase voucher eligibility in the fourth…
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“Progressive” Group Posing as Tea Party Lobbying Against School Choice
Tom Murse recently investigated the group behind the “NoVoucherTax” web, radio and TV ads. While the ads convey an anti-tax message, mimicking a Tea Party group, the group responsible is…
Media
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White-out not Needed for Higher Ed Cuts
Today, the percentage of students enrolling at Pennsylvania's public universities who don't graduate four year ranges from 42-89 percent, with Penn State boasting a mere 58 percent. As for their…
Commentary
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Not So Fast, University Presidents
CF’s own Nate Benefield is quoted at length in a Capitolwire piece today by Pete DeCoursey that calls us “a leading advocate of the unpopular higher education cuts proposed by…
Media
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More Evidence Vouchers are a Win-Win
The latest series of studies from the University of Arkansas’s Department of Education Reform on the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) provide more evidence that vouchers improve academic performance…
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