Common Sense Weekly

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

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House Education Committee Votes to Cut Scholarships, Leaves 30,000 Students Stranded

The Pennsylvania House Education Committee rushed passage of HB 2632 on a party line vote. The bill is an attack on students’ access to educational opportunities. The voting meeting was scheduled at the call of the chair, a move which bypasses the normal 24-hour transparency notice.

HB 2632 would immediately cut credits for scholarship organizations, reducing funding for scholarships by $102 million over two years. This would take away scholarships from 30,000 current students.

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The $6 Billion Question for Gov. Shapiro

Pennsylvania families are already squeezed financially by record-high electricity bills and the ever-increasing cost of living. Now, Gov. Josh Shapiro is asking them to cover the cost of his reckless spending spree. In February, Shapiro proposed a $53 billion budget, one that would push the state’s structural deficit to more than $6 billion. The math doesn’t lie, and neither does the price tag.

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U.S. Treasury Releases New Guidelines on Federal Scholarship Program

As of June 2026, 31 states have expressed their intent to opt into the program. Pennsylvania’s Gov. Josh Shapiro has yet to decide whether to opt the commonwealth in.

Governors have until January 1, 2027, to opt their states into the program. But advance notice allows scholarship organizations to prepare to work with schools, families, and donors and to hit the ground running in the new year.

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Alternative Energy Cost Ratepayers $3.3B in Hidden Subsidies, Research Finds

The start of this month, families and businesses across Pennsylvania saw yet another rate hike hit their electricity bills. What they didn’t see, however, is that Pennsylvania ratepayers have paid more than $3.3 billion in hidden energy subsidies since 2007 thanks to the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (AEPS) mandate.

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