Category: Penn Policy Center

No comments

Response to the 2024–2025 State Budget: Education Funding

  By Penn Policy Center, Statement

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on July 11, 2024. July 11, 2024 Governor Shapiro and the members of the General Assembly have had about 18 months to respond to the Commonwealth Court ruling that Pennsylvania’s system of funding K–12 education is unconstitutional. And Pennsylvania politicians have had decades to recognize that far too many low-income and Black and brown schoolchildren have not received an adequate education, which has limited their opportunities and denied the Commonwealth the full flowering of their talents and abilities. The K–12 budget that we expect to be enacted soon recognizes the problem. But it does not put the state on a path to solving it. It recognizes the problem in two ways. First, for the first time in our history, the school code embraces a formula that quantifies the problem. The school code says that school districts need $4.5 billion in new funding to adequately… Continue reading

No comments

Response to the 2024–25 PA State Budget — Education Funding

  By Blog post

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on July 11, 2024. July 11, 2024 Governor Shapiro and the members of the General Assembly have had about 18 months to respond to the Commonwealth Court ruling that Pennsylvania’s system of funding K–12 education is unconstitutional. And Pennsylvania politicians have had decades to recognize that far too many low-income and Black and brown schoolchildren have not received an adequate education, which has limited their opportunities and denied the Commonwealth the full flowering of their talents and abilities. The K–12 budget that we expect to be enacted soon recognizes the problem. But it does not put the state on a path to solving it. It recognizes the problem in two ways. First, for the first time in our history, the school code embraces a formula that quantifies the problem. The school code says that school districts need $4.5 billion in new funding to adequately… Continue reading

No comments

Op-Ed: A State Earned Income Tax Credit Should Be Part of a Budget Deal in 2024

  By Blog post, Op-ed, Penn Policy Center, Published Op-Eds

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on July 9, 2024. The Pennsylvania state budget for fiscal year 2024–25 is now officially overdue, so we’re still left wondering: What might a deal look like? There are two critical components that need to be addressed. The first is enactment of year one of the Basic Education Funding Commission’s plan to adequately and equitably fund education. Enacting this plan is a moral and constitutional requirement. Failing to meet it would leave the General Assembly to answer to both the voters and the courts. Public opinion polls show overwhelming support for meeting this goal. And while courts are generally reluctant to tell legislators how exactly to spend money, for three reasons this barrier is lower in Pennsylvania right now than in other times and places. Neither Democrats nor Republicans sought to appeal Judge Jubelirer’s ruling that our current system of K–12 school funding is… Continue reading

No comments

Statement: PPC Opposes Senate School Voucher Bill 1280

  By Blog post, Penn Policy Center, Statement

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on July 3, 2024. July 3, 2024 The Pennsylvania Policy Center stands in opposition to Senate Bill 1280, which would force Pennsylvania taxpayers to give billions of dollars in handouts to private and religious institutions with virtually no accountability. After failing to enact a state budget for FY 2024–25 by the deadline of July 1, Pennsylvania Senate Republicans sent a clear message today that they continue to prioritize giving handouts to the wealthy and diverting public funds to private and religious schools over fully and fairly funding our public schools. On Wednesday, July 3, the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to consider SB 1280, a new voucher tax credit bill that would cost taxpayers initially about $2.3 billion next year and more in future years. We oppose SB 1280 because it diverts $2.3 billion in desperately needed funding for our public schools to an ill-conceived… Continue reading

No comments

Statement: What We Are Looking for in a Budget Agreement

  By Blog post, Penn Policy Center, Statement

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on July 1, 2024. The Pennsylvania state budget is now officially late. By all reports, however, House and Senate negotiators, as well as the governor’s office, are working diligently to reach an agreement. We are not concerned by a brief delay as we know that the issues under consideration are complex and that necessary compromises are difficult in a divided government. We do want to set out some criteria by which we will evaluate a successful compromise. Enactment of a plan to meet our constitutional and moral responsibility to fully and fairly fund our schools, along the lines proposed by the Basic Education Funding Commission and with first-year funding at the level proposed by Governor Shapiro. A limited tax cut directed toward the Pennsylvanians who most suffer from our upside-down tax system, ideally by instituting a state piggyback on the federal earned income tax cut. Enactment and funding of the Grow PA program which would provide scholarships of $5,000 to Pennsylvanians attending… Continue reading

No comments

The Time Is Right for PA to Finally Raise its Minimum Wage | OPINION

  By Blog post, Op-ed, Penn Policy Center, Published Op-Eds

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on June 30, 2024. Originally published in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star By Marc Stier House Bill 1500, co-sponsored by Democratic Reps. Jason Dawkins of Philadelphia and Patty Kim of Dauphin County, would increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour over three years and then create annual increases in the future based on the cost of living. While the bill, which is now before the House Appropriations Committee, is not perfect, it would provide enormous benefits to Pennsylvania workers and Pennsylvania’s economy. The legislation has faced the usual arguments made against raising the minimum wage. But what the critics seem not to have noticed is that those arguments make little sense under current economic conditions, if they ever did. Indeed, it’s hard not to conclude that this is the best possible time to raise the minimum wage for both workers and businesses. Raising the minimum wage is almost certain… Continue reading

No comments

School Funding in Pennsylvania Remains Inadequate and Inequitable

  By Policy Paper

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on June 27, 2024. CLICK TO VIEW IN PDF READER. June 26, 2024 adequacy-and-equity-2024Download Continue reading

No comments

Ed. Bd. Memo: A State Earned Income Tax Credit Should Be Part of a Budget Deal in 2024

  By Blog post, Editorial Board Memo, Penn Policy Center

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on June 27, 2024. To: Members of the General Assembly, editorial board members, and political reporters From: Marc Stier, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Policy Center Subject: What we are looking for in a budget agreement Date: July 1, 2024 The Pennsylvania state budget is now officially late. By all reports, however, House and Senate negotiators, as well as the governor’s office, are working diligently to reach an agreement. We are not concerned by a brief delay as we know that the issues under consideration are complex and that necessary compromises are difficult in a divided government. We do want to set out some criteria by which we will evaluate a successful compromise. Enactment of a plan to meet our constitutional and moral responsibility to fully and fairly fund our schools, along the lines proposed by the Basic Education Funding Commission and with first-year funding at the level proposed by Governor Shapiro. A limited tax cut directed toward the Pennsylvanians who most suffer from… Continue reading

No comments

K–12 School Funding in PA Remains Inadequate and Inequitable

  By Blog post, Policy Paper

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on June 26, 2024.   VIEW IN A PDF READER, PRINT OR DOWNLOAD.   Loading Viewer… Continue reading

No comments

From Work to Wealth and Back Again

  By Policy Paper

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on June 25, 2024. VIEW IN A PDF READER, PRINT, OR DOWNLOAD.     Americans suffer because we reward wealth more than work. Here’s how we got here and how we can create an economy that works for all of us. Introduction The pursuit of tax justice is now central to the work of both the Pennsylvania Policy Center and our advocacy arm Pennsylvanians Together. It is also the theme of our People’s Budget Summit this year. In developing this campaign, we needed to pull together a lot of research about  the history and politics of economic and tax policy over the last forty years.  Our executive director has been working on a long paper that surveys this broad topic, which should be read for release by the end of the summer. He was far enough along, however, to give a 15-minute talk previewing… Continue reading