PHILADELPHIA (January 27, 2022) — Compared to the 27 other states that permit cyber charters, PA has the most cyber charter students and is spending the most taxpayer money on cyber charters, yet it has the weakest systems to ensure students and taxpayers are getting...
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Good Trouble, Necessary Trouble – Jan 21, 2022
Use Your Voice to Shape the Electoral Landscape It's an American tradition to come together to do good. We saw evidence of that in the nationwide volunteering in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday. We see it in 1,000+ people who gave just to Children...
It’s Good News this Time! – Jan 14, 2022
Teachers Asked, Children First Delivered COVID is once again taking a toll on the arts. Stages are going black as performances are being canceled with band members sick or worried their concerts will become super-spreader events. Even the 2022 GRAMMYs, the...
Do You Want Fries with That – Jan 7, 2022
Short Changing Our Kids It’s certainly hard to build consensus on any solution when the parties involved have diametrically opposed views of the problem. Such is the case with the fate of our democracy. Yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi marked the somber...
Naughty or Nice – Dec 23, 2021
Santa is making his list and checking it twice. Children First has some suggestions for Santa about who’s been naughty and who’s been nice. But, as always, there’s room for a Christmas miracle so folks on the naughty list have a few more days to change their...
Will They, or Won’t They? – Dec 11, 2021
Enough Drama for a Telenovela As far as sagas go, there hasn’t been this much “Will they, or won’t they?” since the storied, weekly plotline Rachel and Ross of Friends. If you didn’t catch the wildly popular sitcom, just imagine waiting nine years for the...
Four Steps from the Classroom to the Courtroom – Nov 17, 2021
It’s Day Four of the Fair Funding Trial and the testimony so far has been powerful and revealing. This is history in the making and you don’t want to miss a minute of it. Here are four ways to stay connected: 1. Tune in to the amazing new student podcast...
Here Comes the Judge – Nov 12, 2021
We Witnessed History in the Making In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens artfully portrays the stark disparity between the haves and the have-nots. Today’s opening remarks in the Fair Funding Lawsuit could have been written by Dickens himself. The State...
FACT SHEETS: Skyrocketing Cyber Charter Enrollment – Nov 5, 2021
Enrollment in cyber charter schools skyrocketed has during the pandemic, causing Southeastern Pennsylvania school districts to pay over $96 million more in charter school tuition and intensifying pressure on local property taxpayers. See the breakdown on costs and...
Speech: PA Schools Work and Ed Funding – Oct 27, 2021
Speech Presented at PASW Press Conference in Harrisburg October 27, 2021 Tomea Sippio-Smith, K-12 Policy Director Children First Good morning. My name is Tomea Sippio-Smith. I am the K-12 Education Policy Director at Children First, formerly known as Public Citizens...