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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
Turnpike Lease best option financially
Morgan Stanley’s preliminary report indicates that a private lease – depending on the conditions of the agreement – would fetch Pennsylvania a greater sum of money for transportation needs…
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Medicaid Reform in Texas
NCPA analysis of the Medicaid reform proposal in Texas – mostly good ideas, but lacking some key components of free-market reform.
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Term Limits Op-Ed
Rep. Daylin Leach with an editorial on why term limits are a bad idea in the Patriot News. Leach resorts to the standard three part argument – term limits…
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Is Health Spending Out of Control?
NCPA Analysis of government health spending. Their conclusion is that health care expenditures have risen so dramatically because they are on auto-pilot – i.e. lawmakers don’t need to pass…
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Congressmen warn Governor about Turnpike lease
From Capitolwire.com. Having criticized the Governor in my previous post, I will give him praise for dismissing the anti-market rhetoric of two Democratic Congressmen. HARRISBURG (May 16) –…
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Stupid Voters!
After defeat of the Act 1 tax shift almost universally (the Patriot News identified only two districts that approved the shift, and one of those by a very tentative…
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On Top with THE BOX
Commonwealth Foundation radio program rated No. 1 in Harrisburg Metro HARRISBURG — Today, the Commonwealth Foundation announced that its radio program, THE BOX: Inside • Outside • On with Matt…
Press Release
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RendellCare on Life Support
Patriot News on the lack of enthusiasm, and action, on most of Rendell’s health care plan.
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Forces build against leasing turnpike
Tom Barnes in the Post-Gazette on the line-up of opposition to a proposed Turnpike Lease – though all the opposition he names are lobbyists hired by the Turnpike Commission…
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SCHIP Crowds out Private Insurance
A new CBO report on SCHIP (government-run health insurance for kids, recently expanded in PA under Governor Rendell’s “Cover All Kids”) remarks that government health insurance creates dramatic “crowd…
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Attacking Cyber Schools
AP story in PhillyBurbs.com on the attacks on Cyber School funding. There are several highly misleading statements. The article asserts that the school boards association and the teachers’ union…
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School Tax Referendums
The Philadelphia Inquirer is the first PA newspaper that I have seen to endorse a “Yes” vote on the Act 1 tax shift (I have seen several endorsing a…
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More Turnpike Lease Distortions
The Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association (PMTA) issued a news release claiming that voters overwhelming disapprove a Turnpike lease and citing exorbitant toll increases in Indiana. While elected officials should…
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Read More: More Turnpike Lease Distortions
GrowPA: Agitate for Change
GrowPA.com, an interactive website promoting pro-growth policies, limited government, and government reform (chaired by fromer Lt. Governor and Commonwealth Foundation Board Member Bill Scranton) has launched today – featuring…
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State Money Spent To Lobby State Officials
Ben Simmoneau for WGAL on the use of state money to lobby for more state money – specifically highlighting PHEAA and the Turnpike Commission, but taxpayer-funded lobbying included state…
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P3s could build Mon-Fayette Expressway
Private firms are being asked to enter bids to develop and run the Mon-Fayette Expressway: see Tribune-Review and Post-Gazette coverage. Using Public-Private Partnerships for new construction is one…
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Who are the judges?
For those of you who are neither lawyers or criminals and are looking for more info about the judicial candidates before next Tuesday’s primary, here are various surveys/voter guides.
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Cost and Size of General Assembly debated
Brad Bumsted on the Speaker’s Reform Commission hearing on reducing the size of the legislature. While an NCSL analyst testified to the fact that Pennsylvania has the 2nd…
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Ethanol Gold Rush Carries Costs
The rush to mandate and subsidize ethanol may turn out to be fools gold, from NCPA: Last year, about 4.9 billion gallons of ethanol were produced. Within…
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Education vouchers: Free to choose, and learn
Economist.com article on the benefits of school choice, both for students receiving vouchers and for those remaining in public schools. This augments the Friedman Foundation report showing…
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Expanding School Choice in PA
Rep. Civera proposes increasing the cap on Educational Improvement Tax Credits to $109 million. This announcment nearly coincides with a report finding that the EITC saved taxpayers nearly…
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