News Release: Don’t Hike Taxes—Examine Priorities in $3 Billion Off-Budget Spending

July 7, 2017

State lawmakers scrambling for revenue sources to balance their $32 billion spending plan are faced with a choice: higher taxes or real reform. The decision should be easy. Pennsylvanians…

Press Release

Public Union Democracy

Ghost Teachers Exposed by NBC Philadelphia

Gina Diorio
July 6, 2017

The ghost teaching phenomenon is continuing to garner major media coverage—this time, a multi-part NBC10 Philadelphia investigation. Investigative reporter Mitch Blacher gets to the bottom of union work on school…

Media

Regulation

Liquor Privatization’s Dual Purpose

July 6, 2017

State lawmakers have yet to agree on a plan to balance last year’s budget (2016-17) or this year’s budget (2017-18), despite authorizing large spending increases both years. In…

Media

Regulation

Policy Memo: Ideas to Balance the 2017-18 Budget

Elizabeth Stelle
July 5, 2017

With a spending plan in place, lawmakers should focus their efforts on reinventing state government to balance the budget, including ending horse racing subsidies.

Memo

State Budget

Lawmakers’ Choices: Higher Taxes or Real Reform

Nathan Benefield
July 5, 2017

Half the state budget is done: the spending list. The Pennsylvania House and Senate passed a general appropriations bill on Friday. But the other half—how to pay for it—remains. The…

Media

Criminal Justice Reform

How to Revamp Pa.’s Criminal Justice System

July 3, 2017

Pennsylvania can reduce its prison population by more than 1,000 people while saving approximately $108 million over five years, according to a Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) Working Group Report.

Media

Public Union Democracy

Balancing Pennsylvania’s Budget: Tax or Reform?

Jessica Barnett
June 30, 2017

Government unions are rallying in Harrisburg, demanding more money from Pennsylvanians to justify an even larger state budget. It’s worth asking, how did we get here again? And what…

Media

Education

ESAs Advance to Another State—Will Pa. Be Next?

James Paul
June 29, 2017

This week, North Carolina became the sixth state to authorize education savings accounts (ESAs)—flexible spending accounts used by parents to customize their child’s education.

Media

Regulation

Op-Ed: Learn from Last Year’s Budget Mistakes

June 29, 2017

Before you dismiss the budget debate as political theater, consider this: The deals hashed out in Harrisburg could blow a hole in your own budget or even strip you of…

Commentary