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State Budget
Balancing the 2026 State Budget
Controlling and Prioritizing Spending Can Help Balance the Budget Summary Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2026–27 budget proposal spends $3.2 billion more than last year and drains the Rainy-Day Fund, increasing the…
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State Budget
Progressives’ Radical Tax Hike Proposals
Read More: Progressives’ Radical Tax Hike ProposalsState Budget
A Budget You Can Afford
Summary Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2026–27 budget proposal is unaffordable. It calls for tax hikes that will raise the cost of living, wastes money on handouts to politically selected companies, and…
Fact Sheet
Read More: A Budget You Can AffordState Budget
Corporate Welfare in Governor Shapiro’s 2026–27 Budget Proposal
Summary High taxes and burdensome regulations continue to drive outmigration. Rather than improving the state’s tax and regulatory environment, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2026–27 budget proposal seeks to…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Corporate Welfare in Governor Shapiro’s 2026–27 Budget ProposalRegulation
Minimum Wage 2026
Summary The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (L&I) numbers for 2025 show less than one percent of Pennsylvania workers (42,900) earn the minimum wage or…
Fact Sheet
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Pennsylvania’s Education Tax Credit Scholarships: How EITC Serves Children and Families In the Commonwealth | 2nd Edition
Key Findings Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) are state tax credit programs that provide over 100,000 students from low- to middle-income families access…
Report
Read More: Pennsylvania’s Education Tax Credit Scholarships: How EITC Serves Children and Families In the Commonwealth | 2nd EditionEducation
Deficit Watch: May 2026
Background Pennsylvania continues to face serious fiscal challenges. The enacted 2025–26 General Fund budget created a $4.6 billion structural deficit. Gov. Josh…
Deficit Watch
Read More: Deficit Watch: May 2026Education
Education Landscape in Pennsylvania
Overview There are approximately two million school-age children in the commonwealth. Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) 2025–26 enrollment reports show 73.5 percent attend their assigned district…
Fact Sheet
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Pennsylvania’s RGGI Odyssey
Six Years of Lost Investment Underline Danger of New State Energy Taxes Summary From 2019 to 2025, the looming implementation of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) chilled investment in Pennsylvania’s electric grid. For six…
Backgrounder
Read More: Pennsylvania’s RGGI OdysseyPublic Union Democracy
Full Court Press: Pennsylvania Union Political Spending in 2025
Key Points Political action committees (PACs) affiliated with trade unions and government unions spent $22.4 million in monetary and in-kind political activity in 2025, a year with few legislative elections…
Backgrounder
Read More: Full Court Press: Pennsylvania Union Political Spending in 2025Education
Education Tax Credits Deliver Over 100,000 Scholarships, Yet Waitlists Remain
Summary For the first time since inception, Pennsylvania scholarship organizations awarded over 100,000 scholarships during the 2023–24 school year through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Education Tax Credits Deliver Over 100,000 Scholarships, Yet Waitlists RemainState Budget
Deficit Watch: April 2026
Background Pennsylvania continues to face serious fiscal challenges. The enacted 2025–26 General Fund budget created a $4.6 billion structural deficit. Gov. Josh…
Deficit Watch
Read More: Deficit Watch: April 2026State Budget
Deficit Watch: March 2026
Background Pennsylvania continues to face serious fiscal challenges. The enacted 2025–26 General Fund budget created a $4.6 billion structural deficit. Gov. Josh…
Deficit Watch
Read More: Deficit Watch: March 2026Regulation
Fixing the Childcare Affordability Crisis in Pennsylvania
Key Points Statewide numbers for 2024 show the average annual cost of center-based infant care in Pennsylvania at $14,910, or 11.5 percent of the median married…
Backgrounder
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Federal Scholarship Tax Credit
Tens of thousands of kids wait-listed for Pennsylvania’s tax credit scholarship programs could receive scholarships under the new federal program. First-Ever Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Program Last July, Congress passed…
Fact Sheet
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Governor Shapiro’s Reckless 2026–27 Budget Proposal
Overview Gov. Josh Shapiro’s unaffordable budget worsens Pennsylvania’s structural deficit. The governor proposes nearly $53.26 billion in general fund spending, a 6.3 percent increase over the 2025–26 enacted budget. He…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Governor Shapiro’s Reckless 2026–27 Budget ProposalState Budget
2026–27 State Budget: Tackling the Structural Deficit
Summary Pennsylvania’s structural deficit has reached $4.8 billion due to excessive spending. Under Gov. Josh Shapiro and his predecessor, Tom Wolf, state spending has consistently grown at a faster pace…
Fact Sheet
Read More: 2026–27 State Budget: Tackling the Structural DeficitState Budget
Pennsylvania’s Economy is Struggling to Compete Nationally
Overview Over the past few months, Gov. Josh Shapiro and his administration have routinely touted Pennsylvania’s supposed economic success, portraying the commonwealth’s economy as “…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Pennsylvania’s Economy is Struggling to Compete NationallyEducation
Pennsylvania Students Will Thrive With Educational Choice
Testimony of Stephen Bloom, Vice PresidentCommonwealth FoundationPennsylvania House Republican Policy CommitteeHearing on Educational Choice in the CommonwealthJanuary 23, 2026 Chairman Rowe and members of the committee: Thank you for…
Testimony
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The Myth of Increased Education Spending
Testimony of Rachel LanganSenior Education Policy AnalystThe Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy AlternativesHearing on Improving Reading Outcomes in PennsylvaniaBefore the Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy CommitteeThe Honorable David Argall, ChairJanuary…
Testimony
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Shadow School Choice: How Public Education Spending Fails Special Needs Students
Overview Despite year-after-year increases to special education funding, too often, students with special needs are left behind. The U.S. Department of Education guarantees a free appropriate…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Shadow School Choice: How Public Education Spending Fails Special Needs StudentsPublic Union Democracy
The Battle for Worker Freedom: How Government Unions Fund Politics Across the Country
Key Findings During the 2023–24 election cycle, the four biggest public sector unions—the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and American Federation…
Report
Read More: The Battle for Worker Freedom: How Government Unions Fund Politics Across the CountryEducation
What You Need to Know About Pennsylvania’s 2025-26 State Budget
Summary Four months late, Gov. Josh Shapiro and state lawmakers agreed on a state budget deal. The agreement spends $1.4 billion less than Shapiro’s reckless, extreme proposal, and uses excessive…
Backgrounder
Read More: What You Need to Know About Pennsylvania’s 2025-26 State Budget