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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
Blowing both ways
David Hurst in the Altoona Mirror on Big Wind and Big Government. It looks like the wind energy companies have hired “Mr. Bring-home-the-bacon” Bob Jubelirer to bring home the…
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Is PA Government the Worst?
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review story on a Tim Potts presentation on taking Pennsylvania from “worst in the nation” to “best in the nation” in terms of good government. Unfortunately, spokesmen…
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Pat Toomey on “Transportation” Earmarks
Club for Growth President (and Commonwealth Foundation board member) Pat Toomey in National Review Online on the number of pork projects in the federal transportation funding bill…
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OECD report on Biofuels
The recent OECD report on biofuels is a must read for lawmakers consider Governor’s plan to mandate ethanol use and to subsidize ethanol production in PA: The…
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Interstate 80 toll foes drive on capital
Patriot News on the growing push to repeal Act 44. More from the Commonwealth Foundation on repealing Act 44 here and here.
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Read More: Interstate 80 toll foes drive on capital
House Democrats fight probe of bonus payments
Patriot News on House Democrats’ taxpayer-funded lawsuit to limit the taxpayer-funded investigation into whether taxpayer-funded bonuses were handed out illegally.
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The Politics of Ethanol
NY Times article on The High Costs of Ethanol. If the typically liberal NY Times opposes the political games of ethanol, why does Governor Rendell continue to push…
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Republicans Can Win on Health Care
Karl Rove in the Wall Street Journal on some free market health care reforms. While Rove’s prescription contains much of the same reforms we suggested here and…
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Legislation on building wind farms encouraged
Patriot News Article on the debate over wind as a viable energy alternative. The headline is somewhat misleading, as the primary focus is on groups “encouraging” legislation that would…
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Read More: Legislation on building wind farms encouraged
More Resources on Energy
Here are a couple of resources on energy policy I forgot to include in my previous post: Energy, Environment and Economics: A Guide for State Legislators – ALEC…
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Read More: More Resources on Energy
Free Markets vs. Socialized Medicine
John Goodman on Hillary Clinton’s new health care propsal, along with comments on John Stossel’s latest special on health care, which aired on Friday. Also check out…
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Readings on Energy
As the General Assembly begins a special session on energy (and it looks like the debate is only on how much to borrow and spend on corporate welfare grants),…
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Merit pay for teachers begins to earn high grades
USA Today commentary on the success of teacher merit pay in Denver and elsewhere.
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Legislators back away from I-80 toll plan
Morning Call coverage of state lawmakers unhappy with Act 44 (Tolling I-80) and calling for going back to the drawing board. I respect this admission from the Rendell…
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PA Health Survey Results
The PA Department of Health released results on a survey of health (Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System). What does this tell us? Their main finding was:…
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Read More: PA Health Survey Results
Sick Sob Stories
John Stossel in today’s Wall Street Journal on American health care and Michael Moore’s Sicko. When government is in charge of health care, the result…
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Biofuels may harm more than help
OECD report says that Ethanol and Biodiesel aren’t the holy grail that Gov. Rendell thinks they are: “When acidification, fertilizer use, biodiversity loss and toxicity of agricultural pesticides…
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There IS enough funding for roads and bridges
Sixty-three Senators believe there is enough federal funding for roads and bridges to also fund the “International Peace Garden” in Dunseith, North Dakota; “America’s Wetland Center” in Lake Charles, Louisiana;…
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Read More: There IS enough funding for roads and bridges
Cyberschools and AYP
Lancaster Intelligencer Journal on cyber schools academic performance and area schools. The article cites our Edifice Complex report– particularly fact about cyber students coming disproportionately from underperforming school…
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Time to put PHEAA up for sale
Editorial on PHEAA from The Valley Independent: “While the concept of placing the agency in the hands of a private, for-profit company might seem – considering the whole PROFIT aspect…
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Who are the judges?
A Reposting – for those of you who are neither lawyers or criminals and are looking for more info about the judicial candidates, here are various surveys/voter guides. Democracy…
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