State Budget

2021 Budget Takeaways

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 29, 2021

Last week, the Pa. General Assembly passed a state budget deal that includes $40 billion in the General Fund budget, increases in tax credit scholarships, and a number of policy…

Fact Sheet

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Education

Sugary Drink Tax: Not So Sweet for Philadelphia

  • James Paul
  • May 11, 2016

Such a believer is Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney in universal preschool that he supports a punitive tax on low-income residents to pay for it. During his stint on City…

Media

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Does Early Childhood Education Benefit Students?

  • April 23, 2013

Gov. Corbett recently proposed an $11.4 million increase in the early childhood education budget, which means Pennsylvania could spend a total of $348.4 million on early…

Media

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Education

Government Preschool Delivers Few Results

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 10, 2010

State Sen. Pat Browne is quoted on John Micek’s blog Wednesday, citing an oft-repeated claim that government funding for preschool is one of the “best investments” of taxpayer money:…

Media

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Education

New Head Start Study Shows No Long-Term Effects of Preschool

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 14, 2010

A study on students in Head Start released yesterday by the US Department of Health and Human Services shows no long-term academic improvement from the program.  In fact, the…

Media

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Education

Costing-Out the Price of Education

  • Nathan Benefield
  • December 9, 2009

Testimony of Nathan A. Benefield, Director of Policy Research, Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives to the Pennsylvania Senate Education Committee December 8, 2009 Thank you, Sen. Piccola and…

Testimony

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Education

Is Preschool for All a Good Idea?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • October 9, 2009

Chester Finn of the Fordham Foundation has a good article in the latest Education Next on the movement for “preschool for all.” Finn is generally supportive of government…

Media

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Education

State-Run Preschool Doesn’t Make the Grade

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 15, 2009

Cato has a new policy report, as well as a recent blog post which sums up the arguments, on why large-scale government preschool programs are not what…

Media

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Education

The Undelivered Promises of Government Preschool

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 28, 2009

The Sunbury Daily Item features a recent guest editorial claiming that taxpayer funded preschool, such as Gov. Rendell’s PreK Counts, will have long-term savings by reducing crime and improving…

Media

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