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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Hackers Ransom 500,000 Union Members' Personal Information

It recently came to light that Pennsylvania’s largest teacher union was the victim of a dark-web cyberattack, putting more than 500,000 individuals' personal information at risk, including social security numbers, bank account information, and credit and debit card information.

You might wonder why the union had so much personal information stored to begin with. So what can lawmakers do to protect workers, especially those who don't want their private information in the hands of union bosses?

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Gov. Shapiro Uses Rhetoric of 'Freedom' to Hide His Union Devotion

With the Democrat brand polling at record lows, Pa. Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro—who is on the party’s short list for the 2028 presidential contest—is talking like a political moderate or even a Republican these days.

But behind his rhetoric lies a deep devotion to government union donors that has kept Pennsylvania children trapped in failing, union-run schools and exploded the commonwealth’s budget deficit to fund union-backed spending priorities.​​​​​​

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Josh Shapiro Wants You to Know He's Groovy and Cool

For those convinced the Tim Walz veep choice defied a better option, that very option — by general acclaim Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro — seems to have picked up a bit of the Minnesota leftist’s weirdo vibe.

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Why Cyber School Has Been the Best Choice for Me

Cyber charters get a bad rap these days. But switching to a cyber charter was the best decision I made. The 2021–22 school year was the last time I attended a brick-and-mortar school. And I will be forever proud of myself for making that conscious choice to change schools.

I live in rural Pennsylvania, in a 180-year-old farmhouse, with my single mother and older brother. The area I live in has more cows than people. Sometimes, the isolation is nice — but not so much when it comes to my education. Aside from my local high school, I don’t have many other educational options. ​​​​​​

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VIDEO: State Standardized Testing Explained

Do you know how your child's school is performing? We break down how standardized testing works in Pennsylvania and how the results inform school choice options for some of our state's students.

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VOTE: Shapiro's Self-Promotion Madness

Did you know that Gov. Shapiro has a taxpayer-funded, million-dollar team responsible for his online image?

You're paying for it, including his cringeworthy TikTok videos. To bring more attention to this waste of taxpayers dollars, we are running a series of polls on X to help us crown the cringiest of Shapiro's videos.

Voting is now underway in the semifinal round.

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