We Rang the Bell...Now Ring the Alarm It’s impossible to know if asbestos in her school’s building is behind a veteran teacher’s mesothelioma diagnosis. We do know that around 160 school buildings in the Philadelphia district contain asbestos. We know...
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Education
Parents Aren’t the Only Ones Doing Back to School Shopping–August 30, 2019
Parents Aren't The Only Ones Doing Back To School Shopping This Labor Day weekend, parents aren’t the only ones doing back to school shopping. Pennsylvania’s teachers are also jamming the school supply aisles. On average, teachers across...
Endgame for Charter Reform in PA?–August 23, 2019
Bipartisan Consensus Over PA's Charter School Crisis First, a Kafkaesque story: After years of struggle, Erie School District faced insolvency, requiring a $14M bailout and a financial administrator to come up with a five-year-plan. The...
Fair Funding Testimony for House DEM Policy Committee Meeting
FAIR EDUCATION FUNDING FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS House Democratic Policy Committee Meeting Tomea A. Sippio-Smith Education Policy Director Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY) August 12, 2019 In 2016, Pennsylvania devised a way to fund the schools in a fair and...
Why a $1B surplus has PA voters seeing red–June 28, 2019
Why a $1B surplus has PA voters seeing red This one’s really hard to swallow. State revenues are nearly a BILLION dollars higher than expected for this year. Next year, the fiscally conservative Senate bean-counters expect the state coffers will be more...
This summer more students get the break they need…–June 21, 2019
This summer more students get the break they need There’s no better spokesperson for a summer job than Greg Damas, currently a rising junior at Villanova majoring in finance, who got his big break at 14 when he was an intern at Comcast, thanks to...
Preschoolers are big winners in primary vote–May 24, 2019
Preschoolers win big in primary election From pre-K classrooms to libraries to playgrounds across the city, you can see and touch the impact of Philadelphia’s coveted Soda Tax. On Tuesday, voters, as they have time and time again, declared our...
Testimony: Philadelphia Public School Funding
Testimony Presented by Tomea Sippio-Smith On Behalf of Public Citizens for Children and Youth Budget Hearing in Philadelphia City Council Re: School District of Philadelphia May 15, 2019 Thank you for the opportunity to present testimony regarding the funding and...
PCCY Testimony: State of Schools (Philadelphia)
Testimony Presented by Donna Cooper On Behalf of Public Citizens for Children and Youth Hearing in Philadelphia City Council to State of Schools May 6, 2019 Thank you for the opportunity to present testimony regarding the urgent needs of the students attending the...
REPORT: Underwater: What’s Sinking Families in Bucks County – Apr 2019
The American Dream is eroding in Bucks County. Incomes that used to provide a comfortable middle class life are no longer enough to even cover the basics. Even families who are near the median income – an income that should solidify their middle class status – are...