State Budget

How to Balance the State Budget without Raising Taxes in a Pandemic

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • November 6, 2020

Reducing spending to reflect how the pandemic impacted state agencies and balance the budget without tax hikes or borrowing is the first step. Without additional structural spending changes laid out in…

Backgrounder

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How to Balance the Budget: Revenue Options

  • Andrew Abramczyk
  • October 2, 2020

Pennsylvania’s partial-year budget to fund the government through November relied on federal emergency aid to patch a prospective deficit. The state cannot count on such extra resources in the future.

Backgrounder

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Education

Ways to Ease Substitute Teacher Shortages?

  • Colleen Hroncich
  • September 4, 2020

Now more than ever, we need flexible policies to ensure schools have enough substitute teachers. We trust school leaders to keep kids safe and manage large budgets. Shouldn’t we trust them to…

Commentary

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Education

Public Charter Schools Discounted, Ignored During COVID-19

  • Stefanie Mason
  • July 24, 2020

We were told that school districts and Intermediate Units were the experts on cyber education. We were told they were so great that alternatives, like cyber charter schools, should be eliminated.

Media

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Health Care

Top 10 Corona Virus FAQ’s for Pennsylvanians

  • April 30, 2020

Since the COVID-19 pandemic spread to Pennsylvania, we’ve been deluged with questions about what state government is doing. Below are the top 10 questions we’ve been asked with our quick…

Fact Sheet

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Education

Understanding Cyber Charter Schools

  • Colleen Hroncich
  • April 2, 2020

Misconceptions abound when it comes to cyber charter schools—and opponents use that confusion to attack this important option. In the current era of school shutdowns, it's more important than ever…

Fact Sheet

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Education

Fast Lies and Slow Truths

  • Marc LeBlond
  • March 11, 2020

All students—regardless of school type—deserve a student-based funding system. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, only 14% of the $1.2 billion Special Education appropriation is distributed based on categories of…

Commentary

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Education

Conscientious Objectors to Choice

  • Lenny McAllister
  • November 1, 2019

Once again, the most vulnerable in our Commonwealth are in a battle without fully realizing it. That was clear to me during my testimony before the Pennsylvania Senate’s Education…

Media

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