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Education
2025 State of Education Spending in Pennsylvania
Overview The national trends impacting education in Pennsylvania in 2025 include an impending fiscal cliff, under-enrolled schools, and population decline, all of which lead to school closures…
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Public Union Democracy
Protecting Public Employees’ Personal Information
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Health Care
How to Help Pennsylvanians Prosper with Medicaid and SNAP Reform
Read More: How to Help Pennsylvanians Prosper with Medicaid and SNAP ReformGovernment Accountability
Persistent Leadership will Safely Reopen Pa.
Governor Wolf continues to take positive steps toward a safe and gradual opening of the Pennsylvania economy because lawmakers continue to advance good policy that protects lives and livelihoods.
Memo
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Emergency Education Scholarship Accounts
Educational impacts from COVID-19 will reverberate for years—particularly for students who are already struggling. Emergency ESAs can help stem learning losses and keep kids on a path to success.
Memo
Read More: Emergency Education Scholarship AccountsCriminal Justice Reform
How Pa. Can Keep Prisons and Communities Safe During Coronavirus
Pennsylvania’s prisons and jails are particularly vulnerable to the quick spread of COVID-19. Here are several recommendations for mitigating the risk in our corrections system while protecting public safety. …
Fact Sheet
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Understanding Cyber Charter Schools
Misconceptions abound when it comes to cyber charter schools—and opponents use that confusion to attack this important option. In the current era of school shutdowns, it's more important than ever…
Fact Sheet
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Policy Recommendations to Fight COVID-19 in Pennsylvania
As Pennsylvania faces its greatest crisis in decades, it is imperative that legislators take the lead and enact key heath care, education, and budget reforms to help Pennsylvania families and small…
Fact Sheet
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Three Steps to an Honest Budget: Fiscal Reform Priorities 2020-2021
Our legislative roadmap to a balanced budget, a spending limit and a more transparent fiscal process.
Fact Sheet
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Tuition Scholarships for Harrisburg
With HB 1800, Speaker Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) wants to give parents the ability to escape Harrisburg schools without a permission slip from local officials.
Fact Sheet
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Pa. Voters Support the Taxpayer Protection Act
Nearly 2/3rds of Pennsylvanians support the Taxpayer Protection Act.
Poll
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Pa. Voters Support the Employee Rights Notification Act
66% of voters support the Employee Rights Notification Act.
Poll
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The Administrative Cost of Community Engagement Requirements in Medicaid
This is the first in a series of policy briefs looking at the common objections to implementing community engagement requirements, or work expectations, for healthy adults receiving benefits under Medicaid…
Fact Sheet
Read More: The Administrative Cost of Community Engagement Requirements in MedicaidState Budget
Slicing Pennsylvania’s Finances, Part 2
The state legislature controls less than half of all state revenue. The rest is on autopilot, flowing automatically through a maze of accounts and undermining the constituional plan for accountabilty…
Fact Sheet
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Fact Sheet: HB 1897 Eliminating Cyber Charter Schools
Today 34,000 Pennsylvania kids choose cyber charter schools. HB 1897 would eliminate all Pa. cyber charter schools by fall 2021. It also issues a top-down mandate that each school district…
Fact Sheet
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A Fair, Accountable, and Transparent Education
What are the facts on fairness, accountability, and transparency in the Commonwealth’s education system?…
Fact Sheet
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The Broken Promise of Flexible Liquor Pricing
The Liquor Control Board told the public it would use its expanded pricing powers for consumer benefit. Instead it has used them to benefit only itself.
Memo
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Worker Freedom in the States
Unprecedented labor issue activity has followed the 2018 Janus v. AFSCME ruling. Read our summary here.
Fact Sheet
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Transparency Can Curb the High Taxpayer Cost of Government Union Contracts
Behind closed doors, Pennsylvania elected officials routinely negotiate billion-dollar contracts with government unions leaders. Three new contracts will cost an additional $1 billion from 2019-23.
Memo
Read More: Transparency Can Curb the High Taxpayer Cost of Government Union ContractsGovernment Accountability
The Janus Impact and Grading of State Public Sector Labor Laws
In the Janus aftermath, pro-union forces make legislative headway counteracting the court decision, while workers push back in the courts. This report details the trends, and grades each state according to…
Report
Read More: The Janus Impact and Grading of State Public Sector Labor LawsState Budget
Slicing Pennsylvania’s Finances, Part 1
Pennsylvania's largest budget items are growing unsustainably fast. The budget can only be brought under control only if these cost drivers are addressed.
Fact Sheet
Read More: Slicing Pennsylvania’s Finances, Part 1Public Union Democracy
Government Unions One Year after Janus v. AFSCME
One year after Janus unions lost significant fee-based revenue, fee-payers largely remain non-union, and existing members—frequently unaware of the ruling or restricted from resigning—often maintain membership…
Memo
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Opportunity Denied Again: Despite Recent Increase, Thousands of Scholarships Still Denied
In 2017-18, the cap on Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program increased by $10 million. Yet, 49,356 scholarship applications were denied—49% of all applications. To meet demand, lawmakers need…
Memo
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EITC & OSTC Escalator: Because Kids Need a Longer Lifeline
Pennsylvania's successful education tax credit programs are oversubscribed, resulting in tens of thousands of families being denied scholarships. It's time to expand these programs. Here are answers to common questions…
Fact Sheet
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