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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…
Read More: Public Schools Increased Spending to $23,000 Per Student, Ballooned Reserves While Enrollment Declined
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
Leasing of turnpike worth consideration
Reading Eagle Editorial ponders a turnpike lease.
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Read More: Leasing of turnpike worth consideration
Unless spending can be curbed, real tax relief will remain elusive
Patriot News Editorial notes that addressing the spending side of the equation is the key to property tax relief. They also note that the looming crisis in school…
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Read More: Unless spending can be curbed, real tax relief will remain elusive
Gambling board perks add up to $25M
No wonder the Gaming Control Board is asking for a bigger budget: Brad Bumsted and Andrew Conte expose the waste on perks, in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
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Read More: Gambling board perks add up to $25M
Pension crisis on the horizon
The Scranton Times-Tribune looks at the looming crisis in our state pension systems, and how lawmakers bolstering pension benefits exacerbated this crisis. Also, Mark Scolforo of the AP with…
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Health care costs drive up Port Authority bill
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that 2,600 RETIRED government (Port Authority of Allegheny County) employees get to vote on CURRENT contracts! Giving the effective power of veto to FORMER employees has…
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Read More: Health care costs drive up Port Authority bill
Leasing the Turnpike
Sunday’s Patriot News looks at the potential terms of a turnpike lease, and the affect potential limits and mandates would have on the price of a lease. Also, check…
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Teacher pension hike could make tax cuts fleeting
Mark Guydish of the Times Leader focuses on how pension increases will outpace any property tax “relief” (i.e., shift) from Gov. Rendell’s historic Act 1 of 2006.
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Ending high school at 10th grade?
A new report calls for ending high school after 10th grade (students could then enter community college or have two years of college prep work, paying teachers a higher starting…
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Dubai firm to sell U.S. ports
Dubai Ports World is selling their US Ports operations to AIG. Here are all the changes planned after a year of the Dubai firm and several years of a…
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The Price is Wrong: Most Americans Significantly Underestimate Health Care Costs
A survey by HealthMarkets shows that prices doctors charge for the same procedure vary dramatically, an dmost consumer have little idea what the service costs.
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The Top 1% . . . of What?
Wall Street Journal article looks at the PR campaign against the “top 1%”. Two points to note: 1) Using tax return as a measure of income misses a lot…
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Read More: The Top 1% . . . of What?
How to Help the Poor
John Stossel on how rich business leaders can help the poor… Great business creators like Duncan and Turner waste their skills if they just give money away.
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The Education Market Index
The Cato Institute release a report, The Education Market Index, which ranks states on the freedom and choice in their K-12 education markets. Pennsylvania ranks 9th, but only with…
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Read More: The Education Market Index
$150,000 LCB post for retired legislator
Philadelphia Inquirer reports on another public “servant” landing a cushy taxpayer-funded job…and one that was created for him!…
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How do state taxes effect entrepreneurship?
A report by the SBA Office of Advocacy looks at state taxes and the effect on entrepreneurship (measure as the number of sole proprietors). While much of their analysis…
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Bad ruling allowed teacher strikes
Read Simon Campbell’s editorial in Sunday’s Patriot News.
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Colin McNickle on the PNC welfare
In the 1980s and 90s, stories about “welfare queens” using tax dollars to buy Cadillacs led to a major overhaul of welfore in the mid-1990s. Maybe PNC’s role as a…
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Read More: Colin McNickle on the PNC welfare
School districts’ pension tab to rise
Charles Thompson reports in the Patriot News that school districts’ contributions to the pension system is going to rise by about $94 million next year. That is minor compared…
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In case you missed it …
The Evening Bulletin covered Wednesday’s Speaker Franklin Awards Gala.
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Read More: In case you missed it …
Specter gets GOP back on track
Sports Illustrated reports that Arlen Specter is trying to push the GOP back to the founding father’s principles of government, such as ensuring access to TV coverage of football.
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Read More: Specter gets GOP back on track
What about those with spending problems?
The Post-Gazette reports that the hotline for problem gamblers has now opened. The irony of legalizing gambling to (in part) fund services for problem gamblers isn’t lost on me,…
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Read More: What about those with spending problems?