News & Brews June 20, 2025
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Is this fight over transparency? Or revenue?
Visit just about any Pennsylvania newspaper website this week, and you may see an editorial opposing SB194. This bill, introduced by state Sen. Doug Mastriano (Adams & Franklin counties), would allow governments to post public notices on their websites instead of paying to have them printed in newspapers. Editorial boards across the state are decrying this as a step back for transparency. But is it really? Or is it that newspapers don’t want to lose a significant source of revenue? Newspaper subscriptions have been falling for years. In 2020, the Poynter Institute wrote that for many, public notices have “become indispensable to survival.” However, “the advent of websites operated by federal, state and local governments gave politicians a money-saving opening to redirect public notices to their own sites.” Let’s just say that as they editorialize on the issue, newspapers are hardly neutral observers.
How ‘hold harmless’ harms school districts
The Delaware Valley Journal reports on Pennsylvania’s “hold harmless” provision, under which “schools that lose population receive the same amount of state funding as the previous year. However, schools that gain students do not receive more state funding.” The topic was tackled in a recent Commonwealth Foundation webinar. “The 25 fastest-growing districts received approximately $5,262 in state funds per student in 2021–22,” the DVJ reports, “while the 25 districts that lost the most students received $12,155 in state funds per student, about 2.3 times as much.” It’s yet another reason that the best education policy doesn’t reward bureaucracy but instead allows money to follow the child.
Op-Ed: Teachers’ unions target Pa. cyber students
Commonwealth Foundation Senior Fellow Guy Ciarrocchi cuts to the chase to expose the motivation behind calls to cut funding for Pennsylvania cyber charter students. It’s “due to teachers’ union power and the educational industrial complex’s never-ending thirst for our tax dollars.” He writes, “Despite only accounting for 2.4% of all K-12 students in Pennsylvania, … [cyber students] are allegedly somehow responsible for the claim that there isn’t ‘enough’ money for district-run public schools, along with the academic failings in district-run schools. Time for a reality check.”
Dem states backtracking on healthcare for illegal immigrants
Here’s an interesting (and cautionary) tale from the Wall Street Journal. Democrat states that gave taxpayer-funded healthcare to adults who are in the United States illegally are beginning to realize that this wasn’t such a great idea. “Now, some [states] are being forced to roll back or freeze the programs because of budget woes and unexpectedly high enrollment.” Gee, who could have predicted this?
Hearing today on child care overregulation
This morning at 10:00 a.m., the Pa. House Republican Policy Committee will hold a hearing in Danville (Montour County) on “the obstacles the child care industry faces in Pennsylvania and how we can better align our regulatory environment to meet the industry’s needs and help parents.” Among those scheduled to testify are Aaron Riggleman, government affairs manager for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry; Jen Segelken, senior vice president of youth development at the YMCA of Greater Philadelphia; and Ambria Salavantis, head of school at Small Wonders and Wilkes-Barre Academy. Click here to watch the live stream at 10:00 a.m.