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New Swing State Poll: PA Voters Evenly Divided, Presidential Election a Toss Up
Harrisburg, Pa., July 26, 2024—Public support for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is evenly divided in Pennsylvania, according to a new statewide survey of Pennsylvania voters, with Harris leading Trump 47%…
Read More: New Swing State Poll: PA Voters Evenly Divided, Presidential Election a Toss Up
Education
TV Ad Exposes Shapiro as “All Talk, No Results”
Read More: TV Ad Exposes Shapiro as “All Talk, No Results”
Education
Why is Gov. Shapiro Afraid of His Own Campaign Promises?
Read More: Why is Gov. Shapiro Afraid of His Own Campaign Promises?
Education
President and CEO Charles Mitchell on Philadelphia’s Morning Answer with Chris Stigall
Read More: President and CEO Charles Mitchell on Philadelphia’s Morning Answer with Chris StigallEducation
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…
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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…
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Read More: PA House Passes Expansion of Scholarship Tax CreditEducation
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
Read More: Bad Economists and Good Budget CutsEducation
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…
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Pennsylvania budget ideas: Matthew Brouillette
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Read More: Pennsylvania budget ideas: Matthew BrouilletteRegulation
Should States Stop Regulating Telephones?
Land line use in the United States continues to decline as more households are going “wireless” and relying exclusively on their cell phones. About 17 percent of Pennsylvania households…
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Should Government be Required to Advertise in Newspapers?
We were recently asked to sign onto a letter opposing HB 633, legislation which would allow local governments to post public notices online, rather than buy advertisements in local…
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Directors fear business-run public schools
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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.
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Read More: On School Spending “Cuts”Taxes & Economy
What Does “Fair Share” Mean?
The debate over adding an additional tax (or an impact fee) on top of the…
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School Choice Hypocrisy at Solanco Public Schools
The Solanco School District in Lancaster County wants to buy-off parents who are choosing charter schools for their children with their own $1,000 taxpayer-funded voucher if they switch…
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Read More: School Choice Hypocrisy at Solanco Public SchoolsGovernment Accountability
Reining in Spending with Performance-Based Budgeting
The House State Government Committee held a hearing today on reforming the budgeting process. HB 726, sponsored by Rep. Stan Saylor, would institute performance based-budgeting. Today, most of the…
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A Half-Billion Saved is a Half-Billion Earned
After April’s General Fund tax collections came in at 9 percent above forecasts, some lawmakers are clamoring to spend any surplus Pennsylvania has at the end of the…
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Read More: A Half-Billion Saved is a Half-Billion EarnedTaxes & Economy
Natural Gas Industry Paid Over $1 Billion in Taxes
Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue released detailed numbers, showing oil and gas producers paid over $1.1 billion in state taxes since 2006. This includes $234 million paid this…
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Read More: Natural Gas Industry Paid Over $1 Billion in TaxesRegulation
Public Pensions & Politics
Here’s a presentation on government pensions from our senior fellow Rick Dreyfuss. PA Pension Reform Presentation …
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Read More: Public Pensions & PoliticsRegulation
PLCB’s Consumer Ca$htastrophe Continues
In another blinding flash of the obvious, the PLCB, Pennsylvania’s purveyors of perestroika, revealed in a Harrisburg Patriot News article today what we already knew: The supermarket wine kiosks…
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Read More: PLCB’s Consumer Ca$htastrophe ContinuesEducation
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…
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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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