HB613 provides funding for several state-related universities (Penn State, Pitt, Temple, and Lincoln) and a private Ivy League university (Penn).
The Senate passed HB613 on July 3, 2024, by a vote of 44 to 6. We have assigned pluses to the nays because funding institutes of higher education is not the role of government. This bill only extends the state’s monopoly over K-12 education and beyond. Its exchange of public subsidies for postsecondary curriculum and other regulatory controls effectively turns every university student or employee into a government-school student or employee. Besides, state-sponsored higher education acts as an unnecessary drain on the treasury. Public colleges and universities can and should at least be privatized, without the need to rely on state appropriations. Neither academic nor financial freedom can be achieved by forcing other citizens to furnish their hard-earned tax dollars to fund all that now entails a failing and government-run education system.