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Our opinion: Solar has benefits for schools

Pennsylvania schools are interested in the idea of installing solar panels on schools. Frankly, they’re more interested than state officials thought they would be. In its pilot round of funding for the Solar for Schools program approved by the state Legislature in 2024, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development reported receiving 88 grant applications from schools across 25 counties. Schools requested $88 million in funding — more than three times the available $25 million. Another $25 million for the program has been included in Gov.Josh Shapiro’s budget ...

Our opinion: Lasting marks in Youngsville

It’s encouraging to see something familiar to Youngsville High School remaining in place as the school itself enters its final days. The Youngsville High School Alumni Scholarship Fund will offer scholarships to qualifying Youngsville High School seniors at the school’s final graduation in June. More importantly, the scholarship committee plans to continue offering scholarships to students living in the current Youngsville High School attendance area. That’s good news, especially for the near future, for Youngsville-area students who are looking for some help paying for ...

Youngsville offers central location for schools

With all of the questions on where the money has gone and is going, one has to wonder how much other school renovations cost and did these lead to the current financial hardship that the district is claiming? What are the plans for future renovations? How about after the 10 year period that the district claims that it will be in a better financial spot? Just nine years ago, the district claims that it spent $21,650,475 on Eisenhower Elementary and Eisenhower High School for renovations. Then in 2019, the district spent $24,051,029 on Warren Area High School alone. Were all of these ...

Editor’s corner: Cuomo’s return adds to political chaos

Disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has made his way back into the political scene after announcing his candidacy this month for New York City mayor. Those prospects cannot be sitting well with the state’s top elected official in Kathy Hochul. Cuomo was notorious for his vindictive ...

Our opinion: Two takes on tax policy

The story of Republican tax policy in the Trump era is the contest between pro-growth ideas and anti-growth income redistribution. An example of both was on display in President Trump’s recent speech to Congress. The good idea was Trump’s proposal to let companies deduct the full cost of capital expenditures in the year they are made. Trump’s 2017 tax reform provided such “bonus depreciation,” which began to phase out in 2023 and is set to expire at the end of next year. Trump on Tuesday pitched extending full expensing retroactively to this January. “It was one of the ...

Our opinion: Cyber charter reform still needed

A recent report from Auditor General Tim DeFoor confirms what we have long thought - the state simply must reform its method of funding cyber charter schools. DeFoor’s audit took a look at the budgets of five statewide cyber charters over a three-year period and found that revenue at those five cyber charters more than doubled to $898 million while the cyber charters’ savings grew by 144%. At the same time, here in Warren County, we’re going through the difficult process of closing two high schools because the Warren County School District can’t operate sustainably with the ...