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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
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EITC: Archdiocese of Philadelphia
Archdiocese of Philadelphia The Archdiocese of Philadelphia (AOP) serves the five-county Philadelphia region—Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties. AOP provides EITC and OSTC scholarships to an economically and racially…
Fact Sheet
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EITC Student Economic Data
Summary While no state agency collects comprehensive information regarding scholarship students’ family income or demographics, this report compiles data from scholarship providers and financial services providers to provide details about…
Fact Sheet
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Prevailing Wage in Pennsylvania
Summary Prevailing wage law dictates the minimum wage rates paid to workers on public construction projects if the project’s estimated costs exceed a certain threshold. Pennsylvania’s threshold for prevailing wage…
Fact Sheet
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Restarting Three Mile Island: Quick Facts
Quick Facts On September 20, 2024, Constellation Energy entered a 20-year agreement with Microsoft to restart Three Mile Island’s (TMI) unit one reactor, renaming the facility “Crane Clean Energy…
Fact Sheet
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Pennsylvania’s Education Tax Credit Scholarships: How EITC Serves Children and Families in the Commonwealth
Key Findings Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) are state tax credit programs that give thousands of low- to middle- income students access to…
Executive Summary
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The Battle for Worker Freedom: Grading State Public Sector Labor Laws
Key Findings The four largest government unions—American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), National Education Association (NEA), and Service Employees International Union (SEIU)—lost…
Executive Summary
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Mass Transit Bailout
Summary Mass transit agencies, including Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) in Pittsburgh, have seen steep declines in ridership since 2019. Gov. Josh Shapiro…
Fact Sheet
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2024–25 State Budget Analysis
Key Points Pennsylvania’s $47.6 billion 2024–25 budget creates a $3.6 billion structural deficit. This will exhaust General Fund reserves, which will require draining from the Rainy Day fund—illegally—or raising taxes…
Fact Sheet
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Pa. Travelers’ Guide: Summer Gasoline Prices
Pennsylvania’s June average gasoline price was higher than all its neighbor states except New York. While Pennsylvania’s gasoline price has decreased from its 2022 record high, the long-term picture shows…
Backgrounder
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Child Learning Investment Tax Credit
Summary Last year, lawmakers approved the Child and Dependent Care Enhancement Tax Credit and a $66.7 million increase for child-care subsidies. Pennsylvania lawmakers are looking for ways to lower…
Fact Sheet
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Governor Josh Shapiro “Ain’t Got Sh*t Done”
Overview Governor Josh Shapiro has made “Get Sh*t Done,” profanity and all, the official slogan of his administration, but when it comes to legislative accomplishments, his governing abilities have…
Fact Sheet
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The High Cost of Pa. K–12 Education Failures
Key Points The cost and risk of failure in our K–12 system is high. Low academic achievement is a predictor of lower lifetime incomes and higher costs for taxpayers. On…
Backgrounder
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Energizing Federalism: Defending Pennsylvania from Anti-Energy Policies
Summary The Commonwealth Foundation joins several energy policy groups in two coalition letters opposing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) latest power plant rule and the PROVE IT Act.
Fact Sheet
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
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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
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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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