HARRISBURG, PA (April 26, 2011) — As the Pennsylvania Legislature returns to session today, state senators may take up legislation that would establish the largest-in-the nation taxpayer-funded school vouchers program for students attending religious and private schools.

Stephen Herzenberg, PhD, Economist and Executive Director of the Keystone Research Center, issued the following statement analyzing the measure, Senate Bill 1, as amended in the Senate Appropriations Committee on April 11.

HARRISBURG, PA (March 1, 2011) — With the Pennsylvania Senate Education Committee poised to consider a plan to increase funding for taxpayer-funded school vouchers, the Keystone Research Center today issued this public statement and attached commentary which news outlets are free to publish with attribution.

Statement of Stephen Herzenberg, economist and executive director of the Keystone Research Center, on the proposed establishment of a large-scale program to distribute taxpayer-funded vouchers to private and religious schools:

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Over the last generation , the instructional staffing system in U.S. higher education has experienced a significant reduction in the proportion of jobs for full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty members and a dramatic growth in ”contingent” instructors—full-time nontenure-track, part-time/adjunct faculty and graduate employees. About 70 percent of the people teaching in U.S.