Media

Education

Top 10 Reasons to Support ESAs

• Colleen Hroncich
• January 30, 2018

Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) are funding breakthroughs that refocus education spending where it should be: on students. ESAs place educational choice back into the hands of parents and families,…

Media

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State Budget

More Money Coming to a Wallet Near You?

• January 30, 2018

Pennsylvania's tax burden on individuals and the businesses that employ them is far from a warm welcome to the Keystone State. Earlier this month, a House appropriations subcommittee hosted…

Media

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Education

The Invisible School District Income Tax

• January 30, 2018

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a series of occasional blogs by a Philadelphia resident highlighting policy problems holding back the City of Brotherly Love. If a tree…

Media

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Education

Transparency a Must for Philly School Board Nominations

• Colleen Hroncich
• January 26, 2018

“The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.” These words are as true today as…

Media

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Government Accountability

Are PA Courts Biased Against Employers?

• January 25, 2018

Every year, the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) produces a report announcing the “Judicial Hellholes” across the nation. In the 2017 edition, Pennsylvania makes their list- twice. The…

Media

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Government Accountability

Restoring State Budget Transparency

• Jessica Barnett
• January 24, 2018

A House appropriations subcommittee hosted a hearing last week on Pennsylvania’s tax structure and fiscal policy. One of the issues highlighted – Pennsylvania’s lack of state budget transparency. Robert P.

Media

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Criminal Justice Reform

Criminal Justice Reforms Continue to Benefit Pennsylvanians

• January 23, 2018

Pennsylvania’s bipartisan criminal justice efforts are continuing to pay dividends. According to statistics released by the Department of Corrections (DOC), the state’s prison population fell by 863 inmates—the…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Residents Still Moving out of PA, So Will Congressional Districts

• Nathan Benefield
• January 23, 2018

Overlooked in yesterday’s news about the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordering a new Congressional district map was the fact that—regardless of the outcome of that case—Pennsylvania will likely lose a congressional…

Media

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Education

Education Savings Accounts Earn High Marks from Pa. Voters

• January 23, 2018

As parents and students celebrate National School Choice Week with events in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia, a new poll shows Pennsylvanians want to put more educational choices…

Press Release

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Education

ESAs Empower Parents, Protect Public Schools

• Elizabeth Stelle
• January 22, 2018

It's National School Choice Week and this year Pennsylvania lawmakers have an incredible opportunity to help students trapped in failing schools. SB 2 holds the lowest performing schools…

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Education

New Board, New Opportunities in Philadelphia School District

• Colleen Hroncich
• January 19, 2018

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney recently appointed a 13-member nominating panel that will shape the district’s new school board. High on the panel’s list of requirements should be instilling a…

Media

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Regulation

Lifting PA’s Heavy Regulatory Burdens

• Elizabeth Stelle
• January 17, 2018

Tackling one regulation at a time, House lawmakers released a regulatory overreach report aimed at responsibly lightening the commonwealth's heavy regulatory burden. It takes 18 weeks to read the Pennsylvania…

Media

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Health Care

Poll: Voters Overwhelmingly Support Medicaid Work Requirements

• January 16, 2018

In other states, thousands of Americans previously dependent on government programs have transformed their lives and achieved independence thanks to work requirements. But Pennsylvania’s human services system still traps people…

Press Release

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Health Care

States Get Green Light to Propose Medicaid Work Requirements

• Elizabeth Stelle
• January 11, 2018

It's official: The Trump administration has formally endorsed the policy of work requirements for healthy Medicaid recipients. For years states have sought this flexibility to help beneficiaries of Medicaid—government-run health insurance…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Coal and Nuclear Subsidies Rejected, Time to End All Energy Subsidies

• Gordon Tomb
• January 10, 2018

Government subsidies for so-called green energy are contributing to the closings of coal and nuclear plants that keep Pennsylvania’s electricity system reliable. In response, the U.S. Department of Energy…

Media

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Public Union Democracy

Unions Send $1B of Members’ Dues to Liberal Groups

• January 9, 2018

No one should be forced to fund values they disagree with—yet that’s exactly what’s happening to union members. Dues collected from workers’ paychecks, often at taxpayer expense, are used for…

Media

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Education

ESAs Heading to New England

• Colleen Hroncich
• January 9, 2018

News of a $560 million Powerball lottery ticket being sold in New Hampshire seems to have overshadowed news of the state House of Representatives passing education savings accounts (ESAs) last…

Media

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Regulation

Public Employee Compensation Reaches $100k

• January 3, 2018

This post was updated to reflect a change in private sector compensation. For the first time in Pennsylvania’s history, the average cost of a state employee exceeds $100,000, according…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Lawmakers Seek to Restore Dignity of Work

• Elizabeth Stelle
• January 3, 2018

In the first press conference of 2018, House Republicans introduced a package of bills aimed at breaking generational poverty. Rep. Tobash urged reform given the desperate state of…

Media

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Public Union Democracy

2017 Labor Reform Roundup

• Jessica Barnett
• December 28, 2017

Is Pennsylvania a worker-friendly state? According to our updated, comprehensive report grading each state’s public sector labor laws’, the answer is no. Pennsylvania ranks a measly “D” compared to others…

Media

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Education

Taxpayers Notch Another Win Against Ghost Teaching

• December 22, 2017

Reading residents received an early Christmas present this week, as the city’s teachers’ union agreed to reimburse taxpayers for the costs of ghost teaching in the Reading School District.

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