Category: Blog post

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on December 15, 2023. December 15, 2023   Susan Spicka, Education Voters PADiana Polson, Keystone Research CenterMarc Stier, Pennsylvania Policy Center Here we quickly summarize three major reasons why the General Assembly should not adopt a new voucher program. Voucher-funded schools do not offer educational choice for families and students. They use public dollars to support schools that engage in discrimination against many families and students. Voucher programs do not create educational “choice” for many families and students. Instead, voucher programs create the illusion of “choice” because private and religious voucher schools can—and do—engage in discrimination and refuse to enroll students, even if their family is eligible for a voucher. We have seen this in the tax-credit voucher programs already in place in Pennsylvania. In 2022–2023, the Pennsylvania legislature authorized the diversion of $340 million tax dollars out of the state treasury and into private… Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on December 10, 2023.   As we enter the holiday season, our thoughts are turned to all the ways the government of our state could be better serving the people of Pennsylvania, especially those who are struggling in one way or another. The Democrats in the General Assembly, at times with the support of some Republicans, have embraced (and passed in the House) 13 important pieces of legislation that would provide greater opportunity and a helping hand to working people in every corner of the state, as well as protect all Pennsylvanians from various kinds of abuses. Despite this, the Republican-controlled Senate has blocked these critical legislative initiatives. So, we’ve put the following bills on our holiday wish list! $15 Minimum Wage: (HB 1500, sponsored by Reps. Dawkins and Kim. Senate champion: Senator Tartaglione) Working Families Tax Cut Working Families Tax Cut includes a… Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on November 28, 2023. Voting access. Abortion access. Climate change. Public education. Redistricting. Pennsylvanians continue to focus on critical issues that matter to our quality of life. In 2023, we showed up to elect school boards, local municipal officials, and county commissioners AND to elect judges to our local and state courts. We both voted by mail and went to the polls on Election Day, showing that we want to participate in our democracy in ways that work for us. In fact, voter turnout was higher than in 2021! A couple of key reasons: abortion access continues to be a hot topic, and people are responding to threats to voting rights and seeing, more than ever, the roles that courts play in other critical issues such as protecting our right to a “thorough and efficient” education, which was affirmed in a landmark school funding… Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on November 8, 2023. In February 2023, Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer called for a new funding system in Pennsylvania to fulfill the state’s obligation to provide a thorough and efficient education for its children. But, opponents of increased education funding cite the state’s high per-student spending, compared to other states, as a reason not to increase our total spending on K-12 schools. The comparison to other states’ spending per student is misleading in multiple ways. VIEW IN A PDF READER, PRINT, OR DOWNLOAD. Click to access Minimum-Wage-and-Economic-Justice.pdf Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on October 19, 2023. The Senate is now considering SB 7, a bill proposed by Senator Ryan Aument (R-Lancaster), which would require schools to “identify sexually explicit content in school curriculum, materials, and books and notify parents that their child’s coursework includes such content or that a book their child wishes to view in the school library contains explicit content.” Parents would have to “opt in” to allow their children and teens to read or view those materials as part of their coursework and in the library. Without an opt-in, the school would provide the child alternate coursework. Parents do have some rights to limit what their children read and view. And that right is protected, in part, by US constitutional law. Federal courts have recognized that a state has a right to mandate that all children receive an education that it deems is… Continue reading