State of the District

By Stephen Levine

If you look at the facts, over the last 2 years, the school board and administration have examined all budget items no matter how small the expenditure, line by line and made serious cuts to the budget that were very difficult. I have also advocated for addressing the major cost items which have the greatest impact on budget. In this regard, all district employees, (to their credit), when asked, pitched in and took a pay freeze. To control health care costs we are getting very close to shifting to a situation where we are self-funded which will save major dollars. We continue save hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs as our district has been acknowledged as one of the most energy efficient in the nation and we continue to make progress. Comparing test scores between school districts can be very misleading. However, what does matter is that in Upper Merion the facts show that we have reduced the money we spend per student while at the same time increased our in district test scores over the last several years. Recently we were placed on an honor roll for increasing the number of our high school students who take Advanced Placement course. We are making significant progress. It was extremely unfortunate that as a school board we were forced into a position where we had to raise taxes by 7.91% this year. Given State Law Act 1 we had to face the harsh reality that given our decrease in our revenues from primarily commercial property tax reassessments we could not maintain our basic educational programs in the foreseeable future without that tax revenue income to make up for our losses. In the future we will not be able to raise taxes again in any significant way without the community support which is why the I have been strongly advocating for the last year that as a district we need to more fully utilize and build more means of communicating what is going on in the school district, why we do what we do, and what is the rational for doing things. We need to communicate If we expect the citizens of Upper Merion to support us by voting to make funds available when the occasion arises and the district needs money whether to renovate Caley Elementary, capital improvements to an aging high school or supplies and equipment to improve the quality of education.

In closing, there are 7 school board positions open on Tuesday. We can use some new fresh faces and as there are only 2 incumbents running (myself and Dr. David Karen) we will have that. However, it would be wise to have some experienced members to work with new members and I believe both Dr. Karen and I have the background and experience to continue to have a positive influence on the quality of education in Upper Merion. I have been a resident of Upper Merion for over 15 years and 2 lovely daughters that go to school here. I have extensive experience in business and education. I owned and ran an outpatient mental health clinic, I taught a St. Joe's University, I developed and supervised a post-doctoral program at Philadelphia Geriatric Center.

In the last 4 years I have developed a deep appreciation for the complexity of the issues and challenges that face our district and am committed to finding fiscally responsible solutions to the important challenges we will all face in the next 4 years. I believe I have the qualifications to serve the community in Upper Merion wisely and ask for your vote on November 8th. I would also ask you to support the FOCUS slate of candidates regardless of your party affliation as School Board Director is a nonpartisan position. If you vote to reelect me you will not be disappointed. Thank you for caring enough to read this.