News

Pennsylvania To OK $60M School Security Program For 2nd Year

Pennsylvania lawmakers say they’ll authorize a second year of school and community security grants, a $60 million program spurred by last year’s Florida school shooting that killed 17 people. Full… Read More

Some Pa. teachers could still get a raise as part of this year’s budget negotiations

Despite its lukewarm reception from Republicans, Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to give thousands of Pennsylvania teachers a pay raise may still find a place in the budget legislation expected to… Read More

When it comes to grading teachers in PA, test scores could carry less weight

The state Senate is poised to vote as soon as Monday on legislation that will de-emphasize student test performance in evaluating public school teachers and principals. PennLive, June 24, 2019… Read More

PA’s year-end surplus is official. But it won’t last long

The Independent Fiscal Office said Friday that the commonwealth can count on ending the year with $910 million to spare. That’s a jump from their initial estimate of $866 million… Read More

With the deadline looming, where does the Pennsylvania budget stand?

Toil on a $34 billion budget package in Pennsylvania’s Capitol is barreling into the final week of the fiscal year, as top lawmakers rush to wrap up closed-door budget talks,… Read More

Opinion: Pa’s public schools need our help. Gov. Tom Wolf was right to veto private school tax credi

It’s budget season in Harrisburg. At a time of year when we should be talking about funding to meet public schools’ needs, instead we’ve been hearing more about massive giveaways… Read More

A proposal to change Pa.’s teacher evaluation system is moving forward — without support from Philly

A proposal to make Pennsylvania’s teacher evaluation system fairer to educators in high-poverty schools passed a key Senate committee hurdle on Tuesday without the support of the state’s most impoverished… Read More

Disagreements remain as PA’s budget deadline nears

Top Pennsylvania lawmakers are assembling a budget package that’s due ahead of the July 1 start of the fiscal year, but behind-the-scenes disagreements remain and rank-and-file lawmakers are awaiting details…. Read More

Pennsylvania has 500 school districts. What’s stopping consolidations?

The difficulty of school district consolidation was the topic of a bipartisan hearing Monday held by the Senate’s Majority and Minority Policy committees, where senators and education experts discussed the… Read More

Governor vetoes $100M private schools bill in Pennsylvania

Governor Tom Wolf is vetoing budget-season legislation to substantially ramp up taxpayer support for private and religious schools in Pennsylvania. In Wolf’s veto message Tuesday, he questioned why Pennsylvania should… Read More