Robert O’Donnell
Education Senior Fellow
The Honorable Robert W. O’Donnell is an Education Senior Fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation.
Bob is a Philadelphia-based attorney and a former Democratic Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. As a member of the House for 19 years, Bob rose through the ranks of leadership, serving as caucus chairman, majority whip, majority leader, and Speaker of the House. While in public service, he developed a reputation as a thoughtful, dynamic, and intellectually honest member of the House. He has been a consistent advocate for equality of opportunity including supporting school choice throughout his tenure in the legislature.
Bob has served as a member of Public Employees Retirement Study Commission, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, the Board of Trustees of the University of Pittsburgh, the Mayor’s Tax Budget and Advisory Committee (Philadelphia), the Chesapeake Bay Commission, the General State Authority, the Mayor’s Economic Recovery Task Force (Philadelphia), the Millrite Council, and the Philadelphia Port Corporation Board of Directors.
He is a graduate of Temple University and its law school and attended The Hague Academy of International Law. Arcadia College and Philadelphia University awarded Bod honorary degrees, and he has received several public awards including citations from the Pennsylvania League of Cities Service and Common Cause.
Bob resides in Chestnut Hill with his wife, Dr. Donna Gentile O’Donnell.
Education
What the Public Thinks of Public Schools
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Whoops, We Were Wrong…
One of our goals at the Commonwealth Foundation is to predict the effect of proposed public policies. Most of the time, we are proven correct, and humbly announce, "We told…
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Let’s Just Buy Everyone Flying Cars
The Patriot News reports on an insanely bad idea – taxpayer funded buses, then trains, from Lebanon to Hershey to Harrisburg. First the study, funded by the transportation industry…
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Pennsylvania Has Most Legislative Staff
Brad Bumsted had an article over the weekend on Pennsylvania’s largest in the nation legislative staff and, of course, the high cost of keeping that staff. The number of…
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Making a Bad Bill Worse
Following protests by policy and firefighter unions, the Pennsylvania House will delay a vote on HB 1828, the so-called municipal pension reform bill, likely until Thursday. House…
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Governors in Glass Mansions …
When prompted on why Pennsylvania is now the only state in the nation without a budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year, Governor Rendell was quick to pass the blame…
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Tea Party Express Coming to Pennsylvania
The Tea Party Express will be hitting several cities in Pennsylvania this week, before heading to DC on September 12. The bus tour will be holding events in the…
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CF Analysis of Municipal Pension Bill
Commonwealth Foundation Senior Fellow Richard C. Dreyfuss – an actuary and former HR executive for Hershey Foods who is one of PA’s leading experts on state and municipal pensions presented…
Press Release
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Happy Labor (Union Free) Day
Samuel Gompers, the father of the modern American labor union movement, once said, I want to urge devotion to the fundamental of human liberty-to the principles of voluntarism. No…
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Pension Expert: Changes ‘Generational Theft’
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Self-preservation blocks Pennsylvania’s convention for change
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House to delay vote on state pension takeover
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Cinema and the city: Movies are hot in Pittsburgh
Topics on this page Pittsburgh…
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Electric Choice Working in Texas and Michigan
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Pennsylvania’s Failed Economic Development Spending
State and local governments are locked in a constant competition to attract and retain businesses. Unfortunately, instead of addressing a poor business climate and flawed economic policies, they have increasingly…
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Economic Development Subsidies Fail
Today’s Wall Street Journal writes on the failure of taxpayer-funded “economic development” grants – i.e. corporate welfare – in the state of Michigan. The article relies heavily on…
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Ravenstahl pleads to delay state takeover of Pittsburgh’s pensions
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No Correlation Between PA School District Spending and Performance
Tracie Mauriello of the Post-Gazette raises a source of dispute, via Twitter, on education spending vs. performance: pgPoliTweets: Rendell: Ed achievement is correlated to ed spending.
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Tolling I-80 is a Recipe for Disaster
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What Does This Blog Post Inspire You to Do?
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