Common Sense Weekly

Here's Commonwealth Foundation's weekly news roundup of policy issues being debated in Harrisburg and across Pennsylvania.

We hope you have a great weekend!

What Are You Waiting for, Gov. Shapiro? (Paywalled)

As Seen in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, an op-ed from Commonwealth Foundation's Andrew Lewis and America First Policy Institute's J.D. Longo:

It will cost the state more not to support the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program than it will to support it.

The program allows taxpayers to claim a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for donations to scholarship-granting organizations. Those organizations award scholarships to K–12 students in both public and private schools.

They can use the funds for education-related costs, including tuition, tutoring, special-education expenses, after-school programs, technology, and transportation. More than 90% of Pennsylvania K–12 students would be eligible for an FSTC scholarship.

However, before a state’s students can benefit, their state must first opt in. Pennsylvania has not — even though the FSTC would cost the state nothing and would improve the education for thousands of children across Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania wrote the blueprint for FSTC. We are not building something from scratch. We are simply connecting an existing and highly successful network to a new source of support. It’s a turn-key operation with no startup costs or risks.

It would be a shame — and an egregious disservice to the families already on waiting lists and the students stuck in underperforming schools — to let this opportunity pass us by. Opting should be a no-brainer because every Pennsylvania kid deserves every opportunity to find the best school and receive a high-quality education.

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Educational Choice Changes Lives (Podcast)

Tens of thousands of Pennsylvania families are still waiting for access to a better education.

In this episode of Freedom Rising, Andrew Lewis sits down with Pennsylvania Rep. Martina White and Keisha Jordan, president and CEO of the Children’s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia, to discuss why educational choice is essential, not optional, for students stuck in failing schools.

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Pennsylvania Unions are Spending Your Tax Dollars to Pick Your Politicians

What if I told you that your tax dollars fund political campaigns that you probably didn’t vote for? Unwittingly, taxpayers have been subsidizing the partisan politicking of a significantly strong lobbying force in Pennsylvania politics: unions.

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