Policy Memo: Pension Reform in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania’s $71 billion unfunded pension liability is unsustainable for taxpayers and puts public employees at risk. Without timely reform, pension payments will crowd out funding for other services, property taxes will rise, and teachers may be laid off.
Redistricting Reform Memo
Redistricting reform, Fair Districts PA and CF Priorities
Answering Questions about Education Savings Accounts
What are Education Savings Accounts -- and how can they help children in Pennsylvania?
School District Labor Contracts: Surprising Provisions
More than 1.7 million students rely on Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts to meet their diverse educational needs. School boards from each district agree to collective bargaining agreements (labor contracts) with local teachers’ unions. These labor contracts, renewed every few years through closed-door negotiations, contain various privileges for unions. This summary highlights key contract provisions that tilt the playing field toward government unions at the expense of students, teachers, and taxpayers alike.
Seven Threats to the 2017-18 Budget
The 2016-17 budget remains unbalanced. Without serious efforts to reduce spending or reform major cost drivers, like public pensions and the sprawling human services system, taxpayers should expect a push for tax hikes in 2017.
School Spending Update, 2014-15
Pennsylvania school districts spent approximately $27.4 billion in 2014-15. This represents a $1.3 billion increase from 2013-14, despite a 12,000 student decrease in average daily membership.
Beneath the Surface: The Pennsylvania Public Pension Saga--Ten Years Later
Pennsylvania government employee-benefit plans operate in a vacuum. In a world where private-sector benefit cutbacks and cost reductions occur on a daily basis, state government in Harrisburg has not responded in similar fashion. In fact, instead of reducing the potential for financial disaster, actions in recent years have served to accelerate the coming crisis.
Pennsylvanians Flee from High Taxes
New census figures paint a sobering picture. In 2015 alone, Pennsylvania lost 41,600 residents to other states in net migration. This amounts to one person every 12.5 minutes, nearly the entire population of York. Residents in states with higher state and local tax burdens are more likely to want to move than those in lower-tax states. Below are real-life stories of Pennsylvanians on the move.
Governor Wolf’s 2015-16 Budget Myths
Governor Wolf claimed the 2015-16 budget could not be balanced without significant tax hikes. But there are two ways exist to close a budget deficit: raise revenue or cut spending. Lawmakers closed the projected budget deficit by spending less—$3.8 billion less.
Education Spending Trends: April 2016
Pennsylvania’s FY 2015-16 budget was finalized in late March when Gov. Tom Wolf allowed HB 1801, a supplemental funding bill, to become law. This legislation appropriated an additional $3.1 billion for K-12 education—on top of nearly $8 billion that was signed into law in December 2015.
