New Things Brewing

Greetings, guests.

Do you remember the Web Dollz, Blinkies, and the pixel‑sized relics of the 2000s? I’ve been resurrecting them in my spare time, the hours when I’m not advocating, crocheting custom orders, or otherwise preventing society from collapsing under its own poor decisions.

Digital art is my preferred way to unwind. Reading works too. 

So do video games, though mostly because they let me solve problems with far fewer consequences.

I’ll be adding a few new sections to this site: Doll Bases, a 2026 Art Page, a New Poems page, and previews of the stories I’m currently dissecting into existence.

Consider it a small expansion of my creative laboratory.

Open Letter To Pa Governor

An Open Letter to Governor Josh Shapiro

A Fact-Based Rebuttal of the Media Narrative Used to Justify Cutting Cyber Charter Funding

Governor Shapiro,

You cut funding for public cyber charter schools and redirected that money to brick-and-mortar districts; districts that already possess discretionary funds, reserve balances, local taxing authority, and permanent physical infrastructure.

Cyber charter schools do not have most of these. 

This decision was not grounded in evidence, equity, or fiscal accountability. It was driven by a long-running media narrative—most notably from PennLive—that has repeatedly attacked Commonwealth Charter Academy (CCA) while omitting key facts, audited financial data, and legal context.

1. CCA’s Finances Are Audited, Public, and Clean

CCA is required by Pennsylvania law to undergo independent financial audits. In the 2023–2024 school year, CCA received a clean audit with no findings, deficiencies, or evidence of fraud, waste, or abuse.

CCA Clean Audit – 2023–2024

CCA also publicly posts its audited financial statements, IRS filings, and compliance documentation.

CCA Financial Reports & Compliance Records

These are not marketing materials. These are regulated documents subject to legal penalties if falsified.

2. What the Pennsylvania Auditor General Actually Found

The Pennsylvania Auditor General conducted a performance audit of five cyber charter schools, including CCA, covering July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2023.

The audit did not allege illegal spending, self-dealing, or financial misconduct.

Instead, it identified a structural flaw in Pennsylvania’s cyber charter funding formula, which ties cyber school tuition to district spending levels rather than actual instructional cost. (This doesn’t equate to fraud) 

Pennsylvania Auditor General Performance Audit – Full Report

Punishing schools for operating legally under a state-created formula is not accountability. It is scapegoating.

3. Facilities Spending Was Legal, Necessary, and Explained

PennLive has repeatedly framed CCA’s facilities as excessive while ignoring their documented purpose.

CCA facilities are used for:

• Required administrative operations for a statewide public school
• Special Education evaluations, services, and compliance meetings
• IEP development and student support services
• State-mandated testing centers
• Hybrid and in-person instruction
• Technology infrastructure, network management, and secure data storage

These uses were disclosed in audited financials and explained to regulators.

Brick-and-mortar districts already possess buildings and discretionary funds to absorb these costs. Cyber charters must fund them outright.

4. Cyber Charter Students Are Not Isolated or “Unaccountable”

Another recurring claim in media coverage is that cyber charter students lack enrichment or real-world engagement.

This is false.

CCA provides:

• Statewide educational field trips
• Clubs and extracurricular activities
• In-person learning opportunities and hybrid programs
• Hands-on programs, including technical and agricultural learning experiences
• Legal access to local district extracurriculars when equivalent programs are not offered

CCA Educational Field Trips

Cyber education exists because traditional systems routinely fail certain students—those with disabilities, medical fragility, bullying histories, trauma, or unsafe school environments.

5. Media Narrative vs. Documented Reality

PennLive has repeatedly emphasized revenue figures while minimizing or excluding:

• Clean independent audits
• Publicly available financial disclosures
• The Auditor General’s finding that the funding formula itself is outdated
• The fact that no illegality was found

This selective framing shaped public perception and policy despite contrary evidence.

6. The Double Standard

Brick-and-mortar districts:

• Maintain large reserve balances
• Have local taxing authority
• Receive discretionary funding
• Expand administrative costs with minimal scrutiny
• Methacton School District has spent money on gaming labs in 2024 high tech. While also raising the TAXES without any oversight from the community.

Cyber charter schools do not have these advantages and would never go behind the backs of the people. 

Yet cyber charters were punished while districts with greater financial flexibility were rewarded.

7. The Real Impact of This Decision

This decision affects real students:

• Students with IEPs who rely on consistent services (Neurodivergent)
• Medically fragile children (autoimmune disorders)
• Students escaping unsafe school environments (Methacton, Montco and Philly area) 
• Especially now with ICE in the area and cops participating in the harassment. 
• Families who chose cyber education out of necessity, not convenience

You did not cut a line item. You destabilized an education lifeline.

Governor Shapiro — Answer This

Why were clean audits ignored?

Why was a media narrative prioritized over documented financial compliance?

Why are cyber charter students always expected to absorb the damage?

Public education policy must be based on evidence, not headlines.

Pennsylvania’s cyber charter students deserve better. Pennsylvania in general Deserves better.  You will not be getting my vote ever again. 

School Choice Poem 2026

Monday through Friday, the hallways hiss,
A gauntlet dressed as “school,” but nothing like bliss.
Kids and teachers trade their venomous wit,
Turning neurodivergent kids into the skit
The scapegoat, the spectacle, the one they omit.

And maybe it’s me, but weren’t these walls
Supposed to lift you up, not script your fall?
Not today. Not anymore.
The myth of safety rots at the core.

They chant “choice” like a holy rite,
But shadows swallow every light.
Budgets vanish in sleight‑of‑hand,
And students bleed while leaders stand.

I was homeschooled, and look at me now:
Law grad, writer, truth‑hound with a vow.
A retired journalist who learned to see
The cracks in every authority.

Homeschool wasn’t the problem, never that.
Brick‑and‑mortar fed you history flat:
Whitewashed tales in a tidy stack,
Designed to keep you quiet, keep you back,
A curated past that hides the tracks
Of every truth, they won’t unpack.

Choices were here now, they ghost away,
Fading like chalk in the rain’s decay.
Every budget plan Shapiro drafts
Cuts another future in half;

Public or charter, the numbers bend,
And somehow, students lose again.
So what do we do when the choices die,
When kids learn fear before they learn “why”?

We drag the truth into the light,
We name the rot, we name the blight.
We fight for the ones who don’t fit the mold,
For stories too honest, too fierce, too bold.

And here’s the line they can’t ignore:
A school that fears the truth
shouldn’t teach anymore.

©2026 Mary Robbins

Pennsylvania Has Money Just Not for the Children Who Need It

 Once again, Governor Josh Shapiro has proposed cutting funding to public cyber charter schools.

For the 2026–27 school year, his budget calls for an additional $75 million reduction, on top of the nearly $300 million already cut in 2024 and 2025. That brings total cyber charter funding cuts to almost $375 million over three years.

For Commonwealth Charter Academy (CCA) alone, this means:

• ~$150 million already lost over the past two years
• An additional ~$45 million cut proposed
• Nearly $200 million in total losses over three years

These cuts apply only to families who choose public cyber charter schools  while brick-and-mortar districts continue to receive record-level funding increases.

Let’s be clear:

Cyber charter schools are public schools.

The students enrolled in them are public school students.

And the families choosing them are taxpayers.

My son is autistic.

Methacton’s elementary schools failed him  academically, developmentally, and ethically. Like many neurodivergent children, he was left behind in a system that was never built for him and had no intention of adapting.

CCA worked.

It provided structure, flexibility, and an environment where my child could actually learn instead of survive.

Now the state wants to take that option away  not because cyber charter schools don’t work, but because they don’t fit a preferred funding narrative.

Brick-and-Mortar Waste vs. Cyber Charter Scrutiny

Here’s what makes this infuriating.

While cyber charter schools are being gutted, brick-and-mortar districts continue spending taxpayer money on non-essential, discretionary projects.

For example:

Methacton School District celebrated opening a new e-sports gaming room, in 2024, complete with high-performance gaming computers, specialized seating, and competitive gaming setups.

Let me be blunt:

Taxpayer money is funding gaming labs with high end level equipment  while families like mine are being told there is “no money” for the public school our children actually attend.

That is not fiscal responsibility. That is misaligned priorities.

This Isn’t Just About School Funding

This issue goes far beyond cyber charter schools.

It’s about forced taxpayer funding without transparency or consent.

Pennsylvania taxpayers do not get to approve line-item spending.

We do not get opt-outs.

We do not get advance disclosure.

We find out after the money is spent.

Public funds are routinely used for:

• Legal fees and court-related expenses tied to staff conduct
• Administrative and discretionary projects unrelated to student outcomes
• Political or reputational damage control framed as “operational necessity”
• Budgetary decisions made behind closed doors and justified only after exposure

And yet, when it comes time to fund essential public services families rely on, suddenly every dollar must be questioned, slashed, and clawed back.

That contradiction is the point.

Selective Austerity Is Not Accountability

If Pennsylvania truly lacked money, cuts would be shared equitably.

Instead, the cuts fall almost exclusively on:

• Disabled students
• Working families
• Children who already failed once in traditional systems
• Parents who exercised their right to choose a public cyber charter school

Brick-and-mortar districts are insulated.

Cyber charter families are punished.

That is not neutrality.

That is selective austerity.

This Is About Choice — and Consequences

Families choose cyber charter schools for real reasons:

• Medical needs
• Disability accommodations
• Bullying and discrimination
• Academic failure in traditional settings
• Mental health and safety

Cutting funding doesn’t hurt “institutions.”

It hurts children.

And it sends a clear message:

If your child doesn’t fit the traditional model, the state is willing to sacrifice them to protect the system that already failed them.

If Pennsylvania has money for opaque expenses, discretionary projects, and non-essential upgrades, then it has money for the public schools families actively choose.

What it lacks is honesty about its priorities.

I pay taxes.

I followed the rules.

I chose a public school that worked for my child.

And I am done being told that my family and thousands like mine are expendable.

Pennsylvania doesn’t need a mini-Trump — it needs leadership that puts children, transparency, and accountability ahead of political optics.

Evolution Of Revolution Turkey Guy

 

2003

2008 

Feb 2026

I'm probably going to update him more later, specifically around November. 

We Rise From One Earth

No one is illegal on this turning Earth,
we all rise from the same ancient birth.
One planet. One body. One human design.
Different colors, but the same bloodline.

We breathe the same air. We walk the same ground.
We laugh in the same voice. We cry the same sound.
Yet some men decided that whiteness was throne,
as if skin could crown them, as if they alone
were chosen by numbers, or blessed by the sun,
forgetting the truth that we all come from one.

We are human, not shadows, not names on a chart.
We are flesh, we are memory, we are bone, we are heart.
We are not secular machines built to obey.
We are living beings with a soul in the clay.

Our colors were never meant to divide.
They were meant to show beauty the world cannot hide.
A spectrum of stories, a tapestry spun,
a family of many that still beats as one.

We are not savages because our skin holds heat.
We are not threats because our histories meet
in deserts and islands and mountains and seas.
We are not danger. We are branches of trees
that share the same roots in the soil of time,
that rise from the same universal rhyme.

Cruelty has no color. Compassion has no shade.
Humanity is something no border ever made.
The lines that divide us were drawn by fear,
but the truth is older and louder and clear.

We are one species on one small sphere,
and the message is simple for anyone to hear:
No human being is illegal. Not now. Not ever.
Not on this land. Not on this planet.
Not while we breathe together.

©2026  Mary Robbins