Taxes & Economy

Minimum Wage

  • March 23, 2023

Summary One percent of Pennsylvania workers earn the minimum wage, an all-time low.Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Recent analysis by Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal…

Fact Sheet

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Education

More Choice on the way to Philadelphia?

  • James Paul
  • December 9, 2014

Tens of thousands of Philadelphia students languishing on charter waiting lists have reason to hope. For the first time in seven years, the School…

Media

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Health Care

Protected from Obamacare

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • March 31, 2014

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act promised to provide more affordable and better health care for all. Unfortunately, the law has delivered just the opposite—so much so that President…

Media

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Education

Charter School Reform

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 14, 2014

Good morning, my name is Nathan Benefield; I am the vice president of policy analysis for the Commonwealth Foundation. I wish to thank Auditor General DePasquale for the opportunity to…

Testimony

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Education

The Berlin Wall of Philadelphia’s Public Schools

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 27, 2014

Students in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh had their hopes dashed last week when they lost out on the chance to land one of the few vacant openings in charter schools. In…

Media

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Education

False Claims Fuel Charter Attacks

  • Nathan Benefield
  • November 11, 2013

The Education Law Center has issued an attack on legislation to allow universities to approve new charter schools. In a single paragraph, a spokesman for the group makes makes…

Media

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Education

Voters Support Education Reform

  • Nathan Benefield
  • October 22, 2013

Pennsylvania parents and voters want education reform. A new poll from StudentsFirst shows that Pennsylvania families strongly support educational reforms, including incentives for high performing teachers (74 percent support),…

Media

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Education

What’s Behind Pennsylvania’s D+ on Education?

  • Priya Brannick
  • January 9, 2013

StudentsFirst, a bipartisan education reform group, released report cards for all 50 states evaluating individual state education laws and policies—and the news wasn’t good for Pennsylvania,…

Media

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