Education

The Lost Year: How Seniority Harms Teachers and Kids

  • Priya Brannick
  • October 29, 2013

Rep. Vanessa Brown (D-Phila.) knows what it’s like to lose a good school teacher. For her son, it was nearly a matter of life and death. For years, Brown has…

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Education

Cyber School Centers Embrace Community Values

  • Jessica Barnett
  • October 24, 2013

Cyber schools have been falsely maligned as impersonal and anti-social environments for learning, but the truth is far different. Case in point: Achievement House Cyber Charter School is bringing blended…

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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),…

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Taxes & Economy

Unions, Democrats Link Transportation to Philly Schools Funding

  • Nathan Benefield
  • October 21, 2013

For months, state capitol pundits have complained about a “linkage” between votes on transportation funding and liquor store privatization. Indeed, government unions lobbied with taxpayer resources to try to…

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Public Union Democracy

Mail Bag: Union Political Spending

  • October 16, 2013

Several readers, in response to Nate’s op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote us claiming “Union dues can’t fund politics.” But that’s just not true. How do we know this?…

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Education

Unions’ Taxpayer-Subsidized Politics

  • Nathan Benefield
  • October 14, 2013

How would you feel if you were forced to pay for a political cause that worked against your own beliefs and values? Outraged? Victimized? Just plain angry? Many Pennsylvania teachers,…

Commentary

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Education

Saving Pennsylvania’s Best Teachers

  • Priya Brannick
  • October 11, 2013

This week, Commonwealth Foundation placed billboards in Philadelphia subway stations to highlight the problem of seniority rules in our public schools. Currently, Section 1125…

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Regulation

PA Can’t Afford to Dither on Meaningful Pension Reform

  • Nathan Benefield
  • October 10, 2013

Is your family ready to pay nearly $900 more in property taxes and state taxes per year? Are you prepared to see 33,000 public school teachers in Pennsylvania — nearly…

Commentary

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Health Care

Many Pennsylvanians to See Insurance Premiums Skyrocket

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • October 3, 2013

Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges are off to a rough start this week. Millions were welcomed with error screens as they attempted to figure out if their health care costs would rise. Fox…

Media

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