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Education
Commonwealth Foundation Releases Analysis on 2026-27 Budget Deal
Harrisburg, Pa., July 13, 2026 — Pennsylvania’s 2026–27 state budget deal is an “improvement over Gov. Josh Shapiro’s reckless proposal, but it still spends too much and leaves taxpayers facing an even larger long-term…
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Education
Pa. Lawmakers Pass 2026-27 State Budget, Blocking Shapiro’s Tax Hikes and Preserving Emergency Savings
Read More: Pa. Lawmakers Pass 2026-27 State Budget, Blocking Shapiro’s Tax Hikes and Preserving Emergency Savings
Education
Commonwealth Foundation Applauds Senate Republicans for Advancing Tax Relief and Expanding Educational Opportunity
Read More: Commonwealth Foundation Applauds Senate Republicans for Advancing Tax Relief and Expanding Educational Opportunity
Education
NEW ANALYSIS: Public School Enrollment Declines as State Spending Climbs
Read More: NEW ANALYSIS: Public School Enrollment Declines as State Spending Climbs
SCHIP: The Mad Hatter Matter
Ken Blackwell compares those pushing SCHIP expansion to the Mad Hatter of Alice in Wonderland. I, however, think their push to claim anyone who opposes higher taxes on the…
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Turnpike Chief says FHWA has approved I-80 tolling
Toll Roads News reports that PA Turnpike CEO Joe Brimmeier has been saying, while at a conference in Vienna, that the FHWA has approved I-80 tolling. We find that…
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Medical Competition Works for Patients
John Stossel’s latest commentary on health care reform. Stossel will be the keynote speaker at our Speaker Franklin Awards Dinner, honoring Richard Scaife, Nov. 14, in Pittsburgh. I…
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$9.6 million of EITC tax credits still available
From the REACH Foundation: Tuesday, October 09, 2007 $9.6 MILLION WORTH OF OPPORTUNITIES STILL AVAILABLE!Not too late for PA Businesses to participate in Tax Credit Program…
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Read More: $9.6 million of EITC tax credits still available
Turnpike Commission’s “Fuzzy Math”
The latest talking points put out by the PA Turnpike Commission claim that the plan will generate $1.67 billion per year to PennDOT for transportation funding. This is substantially…
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Lawmakers have made few real reforms
Chambersburg Public Opinion assesses the reforms (or lack thereof) enacted by lawmakers…
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A mad dash to influence Pa. energy plans
Philadelphia Inquirer reports that a number of special interests are busy lobbying regarding energy policy. If you are surprised that special interests want to get a piece of the…
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Data on Jobs and Taxes
Here are a couple of interesting compilations of data: Tax Foundation analysis of IRS data – Income and Taxes by income percentileSkeptical Optimist on Job Data –…
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Read More: Data on Jobs and Taxes
DeWeese proposes “ethics training”
Philadelphia Inquirer on how Bill DeWeese plans to “clean up” Harrisburg in the wake of the Attorney General’s investigation of his office in the Bonus-Gate scandal (among other things):…
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PHEAA chief asked to step down
Jan Murphy in the Patriot News on the more abrupt forced resignation of Dick Willey from PHEAA, follwing the Auditor General’s preliminary report. Apparently even board members like…
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Audit Rips PHEAA For Hersheypark Day, Huge Bonuses
WTAE Pittsburgh’s Jim Parsons on PHEAA. Pennsylvania’s student loan agency, PHEAA, has paid hundreds of employees more than $7.5 million in bonuses over the last three years, according…
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Read More: Audit Rips PHEAA For Hersheypark Day, Huge Bonuses
When the Story’s Got Children, Who Needs Facts?
Amy Menefee of the Business & Media Institute on what the SCHIP expansion would really do, and the “but its for the kids” media onslaught. (Balanced coverage from…
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Read More: When the Story’s Got Children, Who Needs Facts?
Video from Energy Policy Luncheon
View all Commonwealth Foundation Video or subscribe on YouTube.
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Read More: Video from Energy Policy Luncheon
$7.5M bonus bonanza at PHEAA
Brett Lieberman on the latest embarrasing revelation of PHEAA’s extravagances, from the state audit of the agency. Here is the Auditor General’s news release on the interim audit…
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Read More: $7.5M bonus bonanza at PHEAA
I-80 tolls for Transit?
Philadelphia Inquirer article repeat a claim from PA Turnpike head Joe Brimmeier that none of the tolls from I-80 would be used to fund mass transit. Of course this…
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Jesus: Roman Empire Should Provide Universal Health Care
Remember the passage in the Bible where Jesus called upon the Roman Empire to provide universal, government-run health insurance? Well, Governor Rendell says it is there: Rendell…
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SCHIP Articles
MSNBC.com article on how richer states are pushing for the SCHIP Expansion. Also Greg Mankiw posts a explanation of Bush’s position on SCHIP – a good overview, but…
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Is Ethanol the ‘Energy Security’ Solution?
Washington Post “Think Tank Town” column on the use of ethanol to make us “energy indpendent”.
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Preschool for All!
National Review article (from Free Library) on the push for government-run “universal preschool”: The irony is that early education is already an American strength. The National Center for…
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Energy Snapshot Powerpoint
The PowerPoint summary of the various energy plans from today’s luncheon can be found here as a slideshow and here as a PDF file. If you missed the…
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Bonus Ban Measure Passes State Government Committee
John Eichelberger’s Bonus Ban Bill – banning all bonuses in state government, PHEAA, legislative staffers, executive branch, etc. – cleared its first hurdle today.
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