Category: Penn Policy Center

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The Lifeline Scholarship Program Would Undermine Public Education

  By Education, K-12 Education in PA, Penn Policy Center, Testimony, Vouchers

My name is Marc Stier. I’m the executive director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center. Thank you for inviting me to testify today.  I’m here today with my fellow advocates for education—including the leaders of unions of teachers, who have dedicated their lives to our children—to speak against the Lifeline scholarship program put forward by Senate Republicans.  The advocates for that program say that it will not take money from our public schools. This argument is thoroughly disingenuous. While money for the program comes from the General Fund and not from individual school districts, Republicans keep reminding us that General Fund revenues are not unlimited. The accumulated surplus that is supporting the operating budget this year—and is projected to support it for the next five years—will eventually run out. Any funding that goes to the Lifeline scholarship program will come from revenues that are needed to meet our constitutional and moral… Continue reading

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We Need to Let Local Communities Set Their Own Minimum Wage

  By Blog post, Minimum Wage, Penn Policy Center

The state of Pennsylvania does not allow local governments—whether counties or municipalities—to set a higher minimum wage than that set by the state. It should do so. The reason it should is obvious: Pennsylvania is a large, diverse state in which local economies differ from one county and city to another. Some of our counties have a much higher cost of living than others, which means that the single statewide minimum is less valuable to working people in some counties than others. Some of our counties have much higher average wages than others, which means that they can support a higher minimum wage without any job loss. (And it’s pretty clear that, under current economic conditions, it would take a much higher minimum wage to cause job loss than anything being discussed in the General Assembly.) Some of our counties have lower unemployment or more employers looking to hire people… Continue reading

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Penn Policy Statement on House Passage of HB 1500, the Minimum Wage Bill

  By Blog post, Minimum Wage, Penn Policy Center, Statement

Marc Stier, executive director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center, released the following statement after the PA House passed HB 1500. House passage of House Bill 1500 is a major step forward for all working people and businesses in the state of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvanians have been waiting for seventeen years for an increase in the minimum wage and for seven years for the state to embrace a path to a minimum wage of $15 per hour. This long overdue action comes at an ideal time. Employers all over the state are already raising wages to ensure they can find the employees they need. Raising the minimum wage would create a floor under wages that ensures businesses can raise their wages without being put at a competitive disadvantage. Workers making below, and just above, $15 per hour would see their wages go up, which would generate new consumption that would help businesses,… Continue reading

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Penn Policy Speaks in Support of House Budget on K-12 Education

  By Blog post, K-12 Education in PA, Penn Policy Center, Statement

Remarks by Marc Stier, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center, at a PA School Work press conference in support of the House passed budget for 2023-2024 In March, Governor Shapiro put forward a proposed budget that many of us said had the right priorities but did not offer enough funding for critical needs, including K-12 education. Last week, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a budget—with the support of Governor Shapiro—that added funding in many of those critical areas. The House budget adds the basic education fund to the governor’s proposal. It includes new funding for the Level Up program, which provides additional money for the 108 least-well-funded school districts and adds money for special education and for repairing toxic schools. The House budget, which Governor Shapiro embraced, is a good down payment on what the state ultimately must do to meet the constitutional and moral requirements to fully… Continue reading

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Why We Should Raise the Minimum Wage in Pennsylvania to $15 Per Hour

  By Blog post, Minimum Wage, Penn Policy Center, Talking points

Click here to print or read full screen.   A high minimum wage ensures we have an economy that works for all of us. It protects workers and provides a dignified life. The minimum wage is a critical protection for workers—like the right to form unions, the social safety net, and a tax system that asks the rich to pay at a higher rate than the poor. These policies ensure that our economy works for all of us, not just the wealthy owners of huge corporations. We show respect for the dignity of work by ensuring all full-time workers are paid a decent wage that allows them to support themselves and their families. Opponents of a higher minimum wage want the work but won’t provide the dignity. Since 1947, workers’ share of the benefits of the United States economy has shrunk drastically. But our economy is more productive than ever.… Continue reading

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PA House Passes Proposals to Reduce Taxes for Working People

  By Blog post, Budget, Penn Policy Center, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget, Taxation

Four Major Proposals Will Make Pennsylvania Taxes Fairer The Pennsylvania House today passed the second and third of four major tax proposals: an expansion of the Child and Dependent Care Enhancement Tax Credit (HB 1259) and the creation of a state Earned Income Tax (HB 1272). These actions follow on House passage of an expansion of the Property Tax / Rent Rebate Program (HB 1110) on January 6. The House is expected to act soon to pass the repeal of the gross receipts tax and sales and use tax on wireless cell phone services (HB 1138). Taken together, the four bills that have been, or will soon be, passed by the House of Representatives will reduce taxes for working people in Pennsylvania and make our state’s tax system fairer. While there is more to be done to fix our upside-down tax system in which the wealthiest Pennsylvania families pay taxes… Continue reading

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Pennsylvania Policy Center Statement on General Fund Budget Passed by PA House

  By Budget, Penn Policy Center, Pennsylvania Budget, Statement

For Immediate Release Contact: Kirstin Snow, Communications Director, snow@pennpolicy.org; 215-510-9336 Harrisburg, PA–Marc Stier, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center, today released the following statement after the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed HB 611, a 2023-24 General Fund Budget, on party line vote. “In March, Governor Shapiro proposed a budget that had the right priorities but proposed too little spending in certain key areas, including K-12 education, workforce development, and housing. The budget passed by the House of Representatives today follows the governor’s priorities but adds spending in areas we believe deserved additional support. That spending is supported by additional revenue expected in both the current fiscal year and in years 2023-24. Going beyond the governor’s budget proposal, the House budget includes: ·      An additional $100 million in basic education funding ·      A $225 million Level Up supplement to the 108 most underfunded school districts in the state. ·      An… Continue reading

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The Real Cost of Opening a Window for Sexual Abuse Lawsuits in Pennsylvania

  By Blog post, Penn Policy Center, Sexual and gender equality, Sexual harassment, Testimony

I was asked to testify about the claims made in a paper by the Susquehanna Valley Center for Public Policy that opening a two-year window for childhood victims of sexual abuse to bring lawsuits against their abusers might cost public schools in Pennsylvania between $10 billion and $32 billion. On its face, the claim sounds utterly absurd. (Not to mention irrelevant; if that is the cost of doing justice for those who have suffered from sexual abuse, then that is what we should be prepared to pay.) But as I delved into the details of the paper, I discovered that it was based on what, frankly, was a horror show of faulty research methods and statistical analyses. I was tempted to say—but in the setting of an official hearing in the Capitol, did not say—that this paper would have received no better than a D grade in the research methods… Continue reading

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Pennsylvania Policy Center Announces Leadership Team

  By Blog post, Penn Policy Center, Statement

For Immediate Release June 8, 2023 Contact: Kirstin Snow, snow@pennpolicy.org Pennsylvania Policy Center Announces Leadership Team PA’s State Affiliate to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Harrisburg, PA—Today, Pennsylvania Policy Center’s (PPC) executive director, Marc Stier, announced five progressive politics and organizing professionals joined the state’s affiliate to the national Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In addressing the recent hires, Stier said, “The Pennsylvania Policy Center aims, through its research and policy development, to create the tools that political officials, opinion leaders, grassroots organizations, and the people of PA need to expand our vibrant democracy, secure our freedom, and seek economic justice in Pennsylvania. I am confident the team we have built, and are continuing to build, will see that to fruition.” New team members include: Levana Layendecker, Deputy Director / Chief Operating Officer – Levana comes to the Pennsylvania Policy Center with more than twenty years of… Continue reading

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Why We Need a Property Tax Circuit Breaker in Pennsylvania

  By Blog post, Property Taxes, Statement, Taxation

tatement of Marc Stier at Senator Jimmy Dillon / Representative Robert Freeman press conference on establishing a property tax circuit breaker in Pennsylvania on April 25, 2023 I’m very pleased to stand with Senator Jimmy Dillon and Representative Robert Freeman in support of establishing a property tax circuit breaker in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center first proposed such a plan in 2015 and our new organization, the Pennsylvania Policy Center, continues to support it. Representative Freeman has long championed it, and we are glad to see Senator Dillion become a champion of it as well. Pennsylvania has long had a serious problem: our tax system is unfair. State and local taxes in our commonwealth place a much greater burden on families with low incomes and moderate incomes than those with high incomes. Just to give you an idea of how unfair our tax system is, consider this: The… Continue reading