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Education
Key Takeaways from Governor’s 2024 Budget Proposal
Key Points Gov. Josh Shapiro’s startling spending increases and myriad of new initiatives would explode the budget deficit and invite massive tax hikes on working families in the coming years.
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Education
Governor Josh Shapiro “Ain’t Got Sh*T Done”
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Education
The High Cost of Pa. K–12 Education Failures
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Energy
Energizing Federalism: Defending Pennsylvania from Anti-Energy Policies
Read More: Energizing Federalism: Defending Pennsylvania from Anti-Energy PoliciesState Budget
Proposed Tax Cuts and the 2024 State Budget
Key Points A responsible budget in fiscal year (FY) 2024–25 must grapple with Pennsylvania’s aging and shrinking workforce challenges through sound tax and regulatory reform. State Senate Republicans proposed two…
Fact Sheet
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Pa. School Funding Reaches $22,000 per Student in 2023
Pennsylvania Public School Spending Is Growing Over the last decade, state spending on Pennsylvania public schools reached all-time highs year after year. Pennsylvania per-pupil public school funding increased to $21,985…
Fact Sheet
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Find Your School District’s Reserves
Use the table below to see your school district’s total reserves.
Research
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Shapiro’s Project Labor Agreement Mandate
Summary Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) are pre-hire agreements between the government and a contractor that outline the terms and conditions for a certain project. Gov. Josh Shapiro wrote to state…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Shapiro’s Project Labor Agreement MandateRegulation
Regulatory Reforms Stalled in State House
Summary Gov. Josh Shapiro’s PAyback permit rebate program is a step forward. But alone, it is insufficient to fix Pennsylvania’s above-average regulatory burden. The governor says he wants to…
Fact Sheet
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PACER & PRESS Analysis
Overview Gov. Josh Shapiro campaigned on a healthy skepticism of carbon taxes before proposing his own carbon tax scheme. His new energy agenda centers around the Pennsylvania Climate…
Fact Sheet
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Avoiding Deadly Blackouts
Summary Pennsylvania urgently needs a plan to restore grid reliability and prevent electricity blackouts from extreme cold weather. Winter Storm Elliot in 2022 almost brought widespread blackouts, but it was…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Avoiding Deadly BlackoutsPublic Union Democracy
Government Union PAC Spending in 2023
Summary Pennsylvania government union political action committees (PACs) spent $5.6 million in 2023, a record high for an odd-year election where there is not a presidential or midterm election. Of…
Fact Sheet
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Higher Education in Pennsylvania
Summary Pennsylvania owns and operates 10 universities under the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE); subsidizes four state-related universities (which function as public-private partnerships); 15 community…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Higher Education in PennsylvaniaPublic Union Democracy
State of the Unions: Examining Union Membership in State Government
Key Findings Public sector labor unions in 33 states represent state government employees, a segment of overall public sector employment, for purposes of collective bargaining. For this research, 27 of…
Executive Summary
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Corporate Welfare in the 2024–25 Budget
Summary Pennsylvania’s economy is largely uncompetitive, with the state routinely losing businesses and residents to more economically competitive states like Florida, North Carolina, and Texas. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposes…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Corporate Welfare in the 2024–25 BudgetState Budget
Shapiro’s Structural Deficit
Summary Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed a $48.3 billion 2024–25 General Fund budget, a $3 billion or 7.1 percent spending increase compared to last year’s ongoing general fund spending. The proposal…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Shapiro’s Structural DeficitHealth Care
Health Care Myths and Facts
Summary Pennsylvanians want personalized, flexible, accessible, and cost-effective health care. Market-based reforms to make price information available, expand telemedicine, and modernize Pennsylvania’s Nursing Law can reduce health care costs and…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Health Care Myths and FactsEducation
Lifeline Scholarship Program/PASS
Overview Lifeline Scholarships, also known as the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS) program, would offer an Education Opportunity Account (EOA) to any student assigned to a school ranked in…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Lifeline Scholarship Program/PASSState Budget
Takeaways from the (Mostly) Finalized 2023–24 Pennsylvania State Budget
Overview With the passage of Fiscal Code and School Code bills in December, work on the 2023–24 Pennsylvania state budget ended mostly done, six months late. The budget is as…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Takeaways from the (Mostly) Finalized 2023–24 Pennsylvania State BudgetEducation
Education Funding in the Commonwealth
Pennsylvania Outspends the Nation on Public Schools Pennsylvania ranks among the highest-spending states on public education. According to National Center for Education Statistics data, as of fiscal year (FY) 2021,…
Backgrounder
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Lifeline and Education Choice Myths and Facts
Summary Lifeline Scholarships, also known as the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS) program, would offer scholarships ranging from $2,500 to $15,000 per year for students in the commonwealth’s lowest-performing…
Fact Sheet
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Tax Credit Scholarships: An Investment in Educational Opportunity
Summary Pennsylvania scholarship organizations awarded 77,670 K–12 scholarships through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) in the 2021–22 school year. The average 2021–22 scholarship…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Tax Credit Scholarships: An Investment in Educational OpportunityPublic Union Democracy
The Battle for Worker Freedom: How Government Unions Fund Politics Across the Country
Key Findings The four largest government unions, the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and Service Employees International…
Executive Summary
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2023 PSSA Scores Highlight the Need for Educational Opportunity
Summary The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) released Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) scores from spring 2023. Test results show that fourth- and eighth-grade students struggle to…
Fact Sheet
Read More: 2023 PSSA Scores Highlight the Need for Educational Opportunity