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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
How to Keep Our Bridges Safe
Stephen Malanga in todays’s Wall Street Journal on how to address the need for new transportation infrastructure: It’s unlikely that public funds alone will supply what’s needed.
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Taxpayer control in name only
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editorial on the bill of goods sold to taxpayers with Act 1 of 2006. Supposedly, the General Assembly plans to tackle the issue of property taxes again…
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Warren Buffett to ride for free on PAT
This News Release from Rep. Matt Smith to reminds everyone that now senior citizens can ride for free at any time of day. This subsidy isn’t limited to low-income…
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The Politics of Disaster
Geoff Segal on the Reason Blog on the Minnesota bridge collapse and fixing transportation infrastructure. Here is what he had to say about our own Governor: Even Pennsylvania…
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Scarnati “Sets Record Straight”?
Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati defends tolling I-80, claiming he is “setting the record straight”. He leads off saying, “One issue that is not debatable in Pennsylvania is…
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Why do lawmakers fear competitive bidding?
Chambersburg Public Opinion on the attitudes of some lawmakers towards a Turnpike lease, now that the idea may be revisited. It seems that many lawmakers need to visit…
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Public Cyber Schools Save Taxpayers Money: Rendell/Zahorchak proposal would increase taxes, reduce public school choice
HARRISBURG, PA — Today, the Commonwealth Foundation issued a response to Pennsylvania Education Secretary Gerald L. Zahorchak’s proposal to reduce funding to the Commonwealth’s public cyber charter schools.
Press Release
Read More: Public Cyber Schools Save Taxpayers Money: Rendell/Zahorchak proposal would increase taxes, reduce public school choice
Why Expanding SCHIP is a bad idea
Resources on the proposed SCHIP expansion (which would increase federal subsidies for health care for the non-poor) from: Heritage FoundationTax FoundationWashington Policy CenterNational…
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Fly by night transportation plan
Remember about a month ago, when Rep. Geist received a letter from the US Department of Transporation stating that I-80 could not be tolled under the Interstate Reconstruction Program…
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School Choice Roundtable Video
Video from yesterday’s rountable discussion on school choice. Get all Commonwealth Foundation videos here…
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PDE supports limiting school spending
Pennsylvania Education Secretary Gerald L. Zahorchak proposes limiting school spending, reported in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Of course he only wants to limit in for cyber schools – to $5800…
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CF on PCN
If you missed the roundtable discussion on school choice and press conference, co-hosted by the Commonwealth Foundation and REACH, in which we released our latest policy brief, there…
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Not the School Districts’ money
Lowman Henry on the attacks on cyber schools, responding to the same Patriot News article that we did yesterday. Educrats refer to funding for cyber charter schools…
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Friedman’s Legacy
Thomas Siems in today’s Wall Street Journal on the legacy of Milton Friedman – as today would have been his 95th birthday. Along with the REACH Foundation, we…
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Celebrating Freedom and School Choice: Honoring Dr. Milton Friedman
HARRISBURG, PA — The Commonwealth Foundation and the REACH Foundation will honor Nobel Laureate economist Dr. Milton Friedman as part of the national Friedman Legacy for Freedom campaign on July…
Press Release
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Remember in November of ’08
“The ‘reform movement’ in the Pennsylvania Legislature is dead,” writes Brad Bumsted, who ask us all to “Remember, remember the 5th of November…” Okay, so I think Brad is…
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The Ugly Truth About Canadian Health Care
Good read about Canadian health care(and other single-payer systems) by David Gratzer in the latest edition of City Journal.
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Online schools’ surpluses criticized
Today’s Patriot News features another article repeating the misinformed and overblown criticism of cyber schools – worrying about the 0.8% of school district spending that goes to educate students…
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With I-80 tolling roadblocked, take a look at turnpike leasing
Patriot News Editorial in favor of taking another look (in the case of some lawmakers, actually looking at) a Turnpike lease.
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Road funding a pickpocket plan
Brouillette in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer.
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Reaction mixed for road leasing
Gov. Rendell has put the idea of leasing the Turnpike back on the table, just in case the proposal from the Turnpike Commission’s patrons, lobbyists, and bond attorneys falls through.
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Read More: Reaction mixed for road leasing