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  • Does Pennsylvania Invest Adequately in Its Community Colleges? A State Benchmarking Analysis
    Research Report
    July 8, 2009 - 1:16pm
  • Pennsylvania Appropriations for Higher Education: Changes Over Time and Comparisons with Other States
    Research Report
    July 8, 2009 - 1:14pm

    In May 2003, R.S. Means Company, Inc. of Massachusetts submitted to New Castle County Government (NCCG) an estimate of how much a county prevailing wage law might cost the county. Such a law would require that workers on county construction projects earn at least the state of Delaware prevailing wage in their construction trade.

    Means claims that a county prevailing wage law could increase costs to New Castle County by $49.5 million in year one and $309.5 million over the first six years. The methodologies used to generate these eye-popping numbers, however, are fatally flawed.

  • Pennsylvania's New Teacher Tests: An Assessment
    Research Report
    July 8, 2009 - 1:02pm

    Beginning fiscal year 2002, and in each of the following four years, Pennsylvania plans to spend $4 million per year to implement a new system of "teacher tests" — the Professional Development Assistance Program (PDAP) Assessments.

    20 percent of teachers are scheduled to take the assessments each year. The tests will be used to identify schools or school districts that need professional development.

  • A Property Tax Rebate Program: Relief for Working Families, Underfunded School Districts, and Pennsylvania’s Environment
    Briefing Paper
    July 8, 2009 - 10:21am

    In the last decade, gaps in income and property wealth among Pennsylvania’s 501 school districts have yawned wider.

    With school financing depending heavily on local property taxes, affluent districts can fund schools generously. Districts with less property wealth however, struggle with high tax rates that still fail to raise adequate revenue for quality schools. This combination often prompts more residents to leave lower-income districts for greener pastures, further undercutting the local tax base and contributing to low-density, land-destroying growth patterns.

  • Fuzzy Math in Philadelphia: Edison Overstates Savings Possible Through Outsourcing School District Maintenance and Operations Work
    Briefing Paper
    July 8, 2009 - 10:19am

    Under contract to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Edison Schools Inc. (Edison) last fall prepared an 80-page assessment of the Philadelphia schools and outlined strategies for improving school performance financially and academically.

    One section of the Edison report estimated that cost savings of between 10 and 30 percent could be achieved by outsourcing school maintenance and operations. This category includes custodial work, groundskeeping, and maintaining and operating heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems.

  • Limiting Learning: How Caps on School Funding Erode the Quality of Education
    Briefing Paper
    July 8, 2009 - 10:14am

    The Pennsylvania legislature is considering a school finance proposal, exemplified by House Bill 113 of the 2003 legislative session, that would shift some school funding away from local property taxes and toward state funds and local income taxes. The proposal would give greater proportional benefits to homeowners with lower property values.

    A shift toward broader-based and less regressive tax funding of the public schools would be admirable, as would the progressive nature of the proposed property tax relief. However, the proposal has two harmful features:

  • Pre-K Investment Yields Bonuses for Children, Families, Communities & Government Budgets
    Press Release
    July 1, 2009 - 10:26am

    By 2050, Universal Statewide Program Would Produce 12 Dollars in Benefits for Each Dollar Invested

    Harrisburg - If PA wants to build a strong economy, increase earnings, reduce crime, and balance budgets, a good place to start is with high quality pre-kindergarten for the state's children, according to a new study by the Economic Policy Institute that was released in Pennsylvania by Keystone Research Center.

  • In Pennsylvania and the Nation, Teachers Still Make Less than Other College Grads
    Press Release
    June 29, 2009 - 10:34am

    Download EPI report

    As presidential candidates and other office-seekers pledge to improve public schools and reward public school teachers, a new study suggests that in both Pennsylvania and the nation, more pay hikes for public educators are sorely needed.

  • Unionization Substantially Raises Wages Of Pennsylvania Service-Sector Workers
    Press Release
    April 13, 2009 - 4:13pm

    HARRISBURG, PA—Pennsylvania workers, like workers across the nation, have seen their wages stagnate or grow slowly in recent decades. But a report released today shows that being in a union significantly boosts the wages of Pennsylvania workers employed in service industries.

    The report, released jointly by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, D.C., and the Keystone Research Center (KRC) in Harrisburg, finds that unionization raises the wages of the average service-sector worker in Pennsylvania by nearly 9 percent.

  • THE QUALIFICATIONS OF PENNSYLVANA'S EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS HAVE DECLINED SHARPLY SINCE 1980s SAYS KEYSTONE RESEARCH CENTER
    Press Release
    September 15, 2005 - 10:56am

    Pennsylvania Issue Brief Part of Nationwide Release of Research Conducted by Pennsylvania-based Think Tank

    Link to Related KRC Articles on Education and Child Care

    Harrisburg – In the 1980s about 40 percent of teaching staff in Pennsylvania's center-based preschool programs outside the public schools had a four-year college degree. Today, according to a new study by the Keystone Research Center, the number is 27 percent.

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