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Education
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…
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State Budget
EITC and Economically Disadvantaged Schools
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Tearing Down Barriers to Prosperity: How More Economic Freedom Can Reduce Poverty and Boost Prosperity in Pennsylvania
Key Findings Economic freedom, specifically lower government spending, strongly and consistently offers both increases in prosperity and reductions in poverty.States that gained economic freedom from 2010 to 2019 tend to…
Executive Summary
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Tearing Down the Barriers to Prosperity: What Pennsylvanians Say About Poverty and Prosperity
Unlike most reports on poverty, this report combines statistics, a survey of Pennsylvanians with income below 200 percent of the poverty line, and in-depth interviews to identify common barriers to…
Executive Summary
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Review of Regulation Constitutional Amendment
What is the Constitutional Amendment on Legislative Review of Regulations? This amendment would allow the legislature to reject a proposed regulation by passing a concurrent resolution with a simple majority…
Backgrounder
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Speaker Rozzi’s Listening Tour Testimony
Mr. Speaker and members of the working group, thank you for allowing Commonwealth Foundation to provide brief comments on the importance of the house returning to work. My name is…
Testimony
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Voter ID Constitutional Amendment
Key Points Voter ID requirements improve election integrity, while voter turnout increases, without impacting election outcomes.Pennsylvania voters support Voter ID requirements by a wide margin, with support across all regions…
Backgrounder
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Assessing Gov. Tom Wolf’s Tenure
Key Points During Gov. Tom Wolf’s eight years in office, Pennsylvania ranked below the national average in income growth, job growth, and population growth.State government spending increased significantly under Wolf,…
Backgrounder
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Pennsylvania State Budget Outlook
In November, the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) released its Five Year Economic and Budget Outlook. Here are several trends for lawmakers. Pennsylvania’s Economy Remains Stagnant IFO forecasts Pennsylvania’s…
Fact Sheet
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Pa. Tax Credit Scholarships
Summary Pennsylvania awarded almost 63,000 K–12 scholarships, and the average overall scholarship increased to over $2,500 for the 2020–21 school year. In 2020–21, K–12 students in Pennsylvania submitted almost 139,000…
Fact Sheet
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The Case for Nurse Practitioner Reform: Full Practice Authority in Pennsylvania
Key Points More than 580,000 Pennsylvanians live in areas with a shortage of primary care professionals relative to the population. This shortage exists throughout the state but concentrates in rural…
Backgrounder
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Rising Electricity Costs
How High Are Electric Bills Rising? Electricity bills are rising across the commonwealth by an average of 73 percent between December 2020 and December 2022.Increases range from 55 percent for…
Fact Sheet
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How Full Practice Authority Can Increase Access and Improve Outcomes
Key Findings Marylanders in border counties have better health care outcomes, including fewer residents reporting fair or poor health and fewer residents with poor mental health days.Before full practice authority,…
Report
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Frequently Asked Q&A About Election Integrity in Pennsylvania
It’s time for all registered Pennsylvanians to exercise our civic duty and head out to vote on Tuesday, November 8th. With public opinion polls showing a lack of confidence…
Research
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Pa’s Wayward Welfare State
Summary Policies that expanded Medicaid eligibility to healthy, working-aged people and do not require the verification of eligibility have expanded the size and complexity of a program designed to focus…
Fact Sheet
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The Dangers of Environmental, Social, and Governance Mandates
*This testimony was requested by the House Commerce Committee for a hearing that did not occur.* Chairman Roae, Chairman Galloway and members of the House Commerce Committee, thank you for…
Testimony
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Government Union Political Spending in the 2021–22 Election Cycle
Introduction According to campaign finance reports and union financial disclosure statements, Pennsylvania government unions have spent $169 million on politics since 2007, making government unions a top special interest in…
Fact Sheet
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The Battle for Worker Freedom in the States: Grading State Public Sector Labor Laws
KEY POINTS In the four years following the Janus v. AFSCME U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the nation’s four largest government unions—AFSCME, SEIU, NEA, and AFT—have lost almost 219,000 union…
Report
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Pa. Economic Trends September 2022
Overview Families across the country continue to feel the pressure of rising prices. The Consumer Price Index is up 8.3% over the last year, and while gasoline prices have fallen…
Backgrounder
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Pennsylvania Back-to-School Education Trends
As students head back to school, there are many claims of teacher shortages and funding shortfalls. In reality, public school spending is at a record high and Pennsylvania ranks among…
Research
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New Numbers on Political Spending by Government Union Executives
Labor Day is a celebration of the American worker—their contributions and achievements that make this country great. Unfortunately, many American workers are sidelined—even bullied—by organizations that are meant to represent…
Memo
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Pa. Back to School Education Trends
Overview As students head back to school, there are many claims of teacher shortages and funding shortfalls. In reality, public school spending is at a record high and Pennsylvania ranks…
Report
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Corporate Welfare, No Boost to Business Climate
Summary Pennsylvania’s economy continues to struggle. In June, Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate reached 4.5 percent, the fifth highest in the nation.[1], [2] As of June…
Fact Sheet
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