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
School Choice Hypocrisy Coming in DC?
The federal “omnibus” bill, despite billions in earmarks an pork, also proposes to cut off funding for the DC Scholarship program, write Dan Lips and Robert Enlow in NRO…
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Time for Universities to Focus on Education
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on the Pennsylvania State Board of Education’s recent suggestion to establish “no-frills” 4-year colleges. The proposal has sparked debate over what constitutes a “frill”. Francis…
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Home Sweet Home
WGAL has a feature on homeschooling. Homeschooling has become a popular alternative for families in recent years: over 1.5 million students across the country are currently taught at home…
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Local Proficiency Measures are Lacking in PA
A new study from Penn State reveals that local school districts’ assessments, allowed as an alternative to the 11th-grade PSSA exam to demonstrate proficiency for Pennsylvania students before graduating,…
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Fact Check: PA Education Spending
A myth floating around Harrisburg is that the state government used to fund 50% of K-12 education, and has reduced support since then. This was most recently stated by…
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Report Card on American Education: A State-by-State Analysis
The American Legislative Exchange Council has released their annual Report Card on American Education. The report is filled with education data – spending, inputs, academic performance – with a…
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Piccola Offers Alternative Plan for PA Higher Ed
State Sen. Jeff Piccola has a new proposal to offer additional grants directly to Pennsylvania students for higher education, and tie this funding to both schools’ holding tuition costs down…
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High Marks for Higher Ed Reforms
Sen. Piccola’s proposal would increase college affordability, accountability HARRISBURG, PA — The Commonwealth Foundation today praised the proposal to reform higher education funding introduced by Senate Education Committee…
Press Release
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School Choice Yearbook
The Alliance for School Choice has released their 2008-09 School Choice Yearbook (click here for the news release). The yearbook profiles school choice programs in every state, the…
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School District Consolidation is a Red Herring
In the movie Men in Black, Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) carries a small device that flashes, allowing him to make people forget meeting him (or seeing aliens). Gov. Rendell…
Commentary
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For-Profit Philadelphia Schools Show Gains
A new study by Paul Peterson and Matthew Chingos finds that the Philadelphia public schools contracted out to for-profit operators showed significant gains in student achievement. Specifically, the…
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The Great College Hoax
Forbes has an excellent article on the merits of college – and taxpayer subsidies of higher ed – even as Governor Rendell proposes legalized video poker to put…
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Special Needs Scholarship Could Replace School for the Deaf
There has been a lot of public outcry against Governor Rendell’s proposal to close the Scranton School for the Deaf, as well as the Scotland School…
Media
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The School District Consolidation Myth
As part of his budget, Governor Rendell proposed creating a commission on consolidating PA school districts (and it turns out, he may intend to do so even if the legislature…
Media
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Economists Against Governor Rendell
In his budget address, Governor Rendell cited “conservative” economists who support the stimulus package and his spending proposals, even though they don’t. Here is Rendell: Economists from…
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Obama Transparency Standard Challenges School Boards
Pennsylvania school boards have been presented an opportunity to measure up to the standard set by our new President. In his inaugural address, Barack Obama promised that public business would…
Commentary
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PA Budget Proposals: Cut the Fat, Play Poker
Sen. John Eichelberger unveiled a proposal today to issue a moratorium on “earmarks”, the legislative-controlled WAMs and other items. The proposal also calls for a review of all…
Media
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Overspending Schools Don’t Need More Taxpayer Funding
NYTimes article (registration required) looks at how much of the federal “stimulus” money would go to school spending, particularly for school construction. Critics and supporters alike…
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More Subsidies for Higher Education
Governor Rendell is proposing an increase of $128 million in tuition aide for students at PASSHE schools. There’s no question that skyrocketing tuition is hitting families hard, but throwing…
Media
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Adam Smith Courses
Our friends at the Wynnewood Institute are hosting a seminar series on the writings of Adam Smith, who is sometimes referred to as the “father of economics.” The series…
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Some More “half” Truths on the PSEA
The Tribune-Democrat features an editorial by a PSEA member in which he calls Matt Brouillette’s commentary “a hodgepodge of distortions, half-truths and unadulterated flapdoodle”. I have no idea…
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