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Education
Public Schools Increased Spending to $23,000 Per Student, Ballooned Reserves While Enrollment Declined
Harrisburg, Pa., May 15, 2025 — Pennsylvania school districts increased overall revenue collected in 2023–24 to $23,000 per student, while expanding general fund reserves to $7.4 billion, according to new…
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Energy
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments on RGGI
Read More: Pennsylvania Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments on RGGI
Education
Senate Education Committee Approves Bipartisan PASS Scholarships, Offering Lifeline to Students in Need
Read More: Senate Education Committee Approves Bipartisan PASS Scholarships, Offering Lifeline to Students in Need
Prosperity
New Report: Gig-Workers Prefer Flexibility of Portable Benefits
Read More: New Report: Gig-Workers Prefer Flexibility of Portable Benefits
Common Sense of Bonusgate
Paul Jacob of The Sam Adams Alliance weighs in on Pennsylvania’s “Bonusgate”. Listen to the audio version here.
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Of Calendars and Porn Taxes
Policy Blog may only be #6 in this weeks PA Blog Influence Ranking, but we made some noise over the weekend. The Pittsburgh Tribune Review featured a story…
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Hold the Pork
John Fund in the Wall Street Journal on the 9,000 earmarks, and the possibility Bush will refuse to acknowledge them. Since the earmarks were dropped into a conference report,…
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How states encourge higher uninsurance rates
Wall Street Journal article by Tarren Bragdon questions Why does New York spend more on Medicaid — a health-care program for the poor — than every other state…
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Proposed PA tax on adult businesses
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review story on the latest new tax proposal, this one on “adult businesses” from Senator Jane Orie (so much for Senate Republicans opposing any new taxes). I was…
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Leading Bioenergy Crops Bad for the Environment
An analysis in Science Magazine of a finds that the environmental impact of biofuels from corn, soy and other crops may be worse than fossil fuels. More from…
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Cost of Calendars
The Chief Clerks offices for both the PA House and Senate have graciously provided the cost of printing those lovely Capitol Calendars. Here is the breakdown: House:Calendars Printed:…
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Rich states grow faster by taxing less
Washington Examiner editorial on how rich states grow faster by taxing less…
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I Am Lawsuit Abuse
New website highlights of the worst cases of lawsuit abuse, including the infamous case of a judge suing a dry cleaner for losing his pants – for $67 million.
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Lawmakers have priorities confused
This Letter to the Editor at The REPUBLICAN & Herald succinctly nails what’s wrong with Harrisburg. We need more such letters in newspapers across Pennsylvania. Actually, we need more…
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Taxpayer Protection Limit equal to 3.29%
With the latest population estimate from the Census Bureau (which shows continued anemic growth in PA), we can now estimate what the spending limit under the proposed…
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Politics and ideology stall health-care initiatives
I thought I’d comment on this Beaver County Times Editorial that decries “politics and ideology” for stopping health care initiatives like RendellCare. They are right, you know, ideology –…
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Why the “Year of Reform” Wasn’t
Russ Diamond on “Why the “Year of Reform” Wasn’t”: Nothing else has been accomplished on the reform front, though. Newspaper editors, pundits, journalists and citizens are asking: Why?…
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The New Deal Jobs Myth
Amity Shlaes in the Wall Street Journal looks at how the New Deal era programs didn’t “create jobs”, but rather stifled growth. This is an important lesson for those…
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Are they all “selfish”?
Nate Benefield’s commentary on our website today, elicited a response from inside the Capitol. We thought we’d share it with you…because the writer makes a very good point!…
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Judge Andrew Napolitano on the State of our Rights
Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano at Reason.tv on the threat to our inherent rights — Government that violates its constitutional limitations.
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Schools get no relief on pension contributions
That’s a horrible headline for the AP story in the Morning Call. Who are the “schools” anyway? It’s the taxpayers who get no relief. While the pension contribution…
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Where will projected I-80 revenue go?
In light of the FHWA questions to the Turnpike Commission – specifically about whether I-80 revenue will be used for debt services for non-I-80 expenses, and how payments to…
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Creating a Free, Searchable Website of State Spending
Policy Note by our colleagues at theWashington Policy Center on creating a state-level, searchable online database of spending. Examples of online budget databases include Georgia, Texas, and…
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A Brief History of Christmas
This Wall Street Journal article on the History of Christmas has little to do with policy (unless there is some debate over ending Christmas as a federal holiday), but…
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‘It’s been a very difficult lesson’
Interview with Bill DeWeese in the Patriot News on his role in Bonusgate. His answers: 1) Didn’t know about bonuses ($1.9 million), 2) Will consider reforming legislative spending, 3)…
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