Common Sense Weekly

Welcome to Common Sense Weekly! This is the Commonwealth Foundation's weekly news roundup of policy issues being debated in Harrisburg and across Pennsylvania.

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Governor Shapiro’s Super Bowl Appearance Highlights His Lack of Transparency

Gov. Josh Shapiro spent the weekend cheering on the Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl LIX.

How he scored tickets to the event, however, has been a sore subject for the governor. Despite promising transparency as a candidate, Shapiro regularly accepts free event tickets from the Team PA Foundation, a nonprofit organization that accepts both public and private money and doesn’t disclose its donors. In 2023 alone, the governor received more than $12,000 in tickets.

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Shapiro's Silent Partners

There’s plenty to criticize about Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget address, as many have done. Yet, one of the strangest aspects of the governor’s speech is not what he said but rather what—or whom—he didn’t talk about. Though not referenced explicitly, government unions greatly influenced the governor’s recent budget address.

The word “union” appears just once in Shapiro’s prepared remarks, but only when mentioning “Union County,” the location for a new—ironically, non-union—pasta-manufacturing facility. Aside from one historical footnote about Pennsylvania’s role in the labor movement during the Industrial Revolution, unions were alive and kicking between the lines of Shapiro’s proposal.

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Pennsylvania Democrats Must Stop Playing Politics and Unleash American Energy

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Rather than respect voter pleas for common sense, Pennsylvania Democrats — especially those in the state House of Representatives — prefer playing political games, namely their manipulation of the lower chamber’s committee makeup for the new 2025–26 session.

On Jan. 7, Pennsylvania House leadership announced the split of the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee into two new standing committees: the Energy Committee (chaired by state Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler) and the Environmental and Natural Resources Protection Committee (chaired by state Rep. Greg Vitali). Democrats claim they intend to increase legislative output and address voter concerns more intentionally.

But this procedural shuffle has more to do with performative politics. House Democrats will maneuver legislation through these committees to appease two core constituencies: environmental extremists and labor unions.

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No Choice

In a recent Inquirer article, Donna Cooper, executive director of Children First, stated that “the overwhelming majority of parents choose public schools.” Her use of the word choose is flagrantly wrong. Public school district catchment areas dictate the academic future of Pennsylvania youth. Where they live determines where they go to school. Sadly, students and families — especially those living in low-income communities — have limited educational choices. Without open enrollment or educational choice, many Pennsylvania kids — especially the 200,000 trapped in the state’s chronically lowest-performing schools — lack the ability and resources to find a school that better serves their academic needs.

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IN DEPTH: Governor Shapiro’s 2025 Budget Proposal is an Extreme Spending Binge

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s radical overspending exacerbates what is already a massive budget deficit. His plan imposes new taxes this year and will force extreme tax hikes on working families in the coming years. The governor proposes nearly $51.5 billion in general fund spending, an 8.1 percent increase over the 2024–25 enacted budget. Moreover, Shapiro’s long-term plan fails to ever bring the budget into balance. Lawmakers should reject Shapiro’s spending binge—as they’ve moderated from his previous extreme proposals. They must exercise restraint this year to control the growth of government spending and protect working families from tax hikes.

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