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Adam's Ideas for EPSDAs a lifelong educator and the parent of two school-aged children, Adam has experienced first hand the issues facing our schools.
Adam is an advocate for:
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Returning to Face-to-Face Instruction |
It is encouraging that East Penn reached a point where all students were able to safely return to full five-day instruction. This was a major goal of mine headed into the 2021-2022 school year and is a major promise that was kept. It is critical that policies remain in place that keep students engaged in full five-day instruction. I have asked the district administration to include options for students to complete work asynchronously during quarantine, which includes opportunities to live-stream instruction where appropriate. The disjointed nature of the previous school year was incredibly disruptive to students' learning and all measures should be examined to prevent a repeat during this school year.
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COVID Recovery |
Returning all of our schools to traditional instruction must be only the first step in examining the lingering impacts to student mental, physical, and academic health.
Conversations in the upcoming months must focus on continuing the progress made that will set students up for success in the upcoming school year. These conversations can and must include strategies to:
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Charter Schools |
Charter schools are a free-market component of public education and they’re here to stay. Healthy competition has challenged districts to reevaluate their own slate of offerings to adapt to demand, such as a local district’s dance studio or our own Jasper Learning Initiative and VEsPA cyber learning option. This is a net positive for all students, whether they attend charter schools or not.
Funding charter schools equitably and holding them accountable in the same way traditional schools are is a challenge, however. A year ago, we in East Penn unanimously signed a resolution along with nearly 400 districts across the state calling for meaningful funding reform. The current charter school funding has not been changed in the 24 years since it was first created in 1997. The formulas for regular and special education programs are unfair because they are based on a school district’s expenditures and not what it actually costs to educate a child in the charter school. Because the tuition rate calculations are based on the school district’s expenses, they create broad differences in the amount of tuition paid by different districts for the same charter school education and result in large over-payments to charter schools. These payments require districts to send more money to charter schools than is needed to operate their programs and place a significant financial burden on districts’ resources and taxpayers. Simply put, this inefficiency hampers innovation. In the 2019-2020 school year, East Penn made over $5.3 million in payments to charter schools, amounting to almost 3.5% of the budget that year. This is more than every district in Lehigh County, with the exception of Allentown SD. In a free-market economy, it is important that the playing field be leveled to encourage growth and healthy competition. We need a modified system that is tied to the actual costs to educate a child enrolled in a charter school. |
Budget |
East Penn currently uses resources efficiently and effectively. Compared to districts across the state, expenditures are below average and student performance is above average. Adam will work to continue this success and push to help students continue to improve. The School Board sets the direction for the District and as such, Adam will work closely with the Superintendent to reduce costs, streamline extraneous budget items, and find creative solutions to budgetary challenges. He will scrutinize the EPSD budget to find ways to help the District do more with less, while still ensuring the district continues to direct its resources to what matters most -- our children.
For more information on the current year's budget, you can read the easy to consume budget highlights shared here. |
Property Taxes |
Pennsylvania's property tax law is in need of serious reform in order to come up with a solution that shifts some of the burden off of the local taxpayer. However, doing so could come at the cost of losing local control over how revenue is spent. There is quite a debate currently taking place and one that will not come with an easy solution. Adam looks forward to hearing your thoughts on this issue.
One of the factors leading to our high property costs are the unfunded mandates placed upon school districts by Harrisburg. Adam will look to lobby the state to lessen the burden on districts like East Penn, leading to a reduction in property taxes. Currently, despite the challenges of PA's current property tax laws, East Penn has done a fantastic job with containing property tax increases when compared to surrounding districts. The last two years, with zero tax increase in 2019, stand as the lowest two-year increase period in East Penn's history. Additionally, East Penn's property tax rate is the fourth highest of the nine Lehigh County school districts. Although slightly above the average for the county, the District's results are well above average, both in the Lehigh Valley and across the Commonwealth. In EPSD, the Board has worked to develop creative solutions for its taxpayers. Since the 2001-02 school year, three budgets have had no tax increase. In addition, the board eliminated the regressive per capita tax ($5 per adult living in the school district) and implemented the Senior Citizens Tax Rebate in 2002. The Tax Rebate program returned $145,861 in 2014 to low income senior citizens. Last year, this program was expanded even further to place it more in line with other statewide rebate programs. Between the two programs, there are many seniors each year who receive rebates of all of their school real estate taxes. I am proud to support this adjustment to support our neighbors living on fixed incomes. |
Transparency |
Transparency is an essential component of all governance, especially at the local level. Public insight to the Board's discussions has never been greater. In the first term, Adam supported the successful implementation of:
Live streaming, implemented well before the pandemic began, has seen its demand only increase with the move to virtual Board meetings. A return to the standard meeting format should take place in the near future as other local governments have done. Live-streaming of meetings provides increased community access to Board business and should remain a permanent option as more restrictions are lifted. |
A Limitless Future |
Students graduating from East Penn should continue to have every option available to them as they work to become members of an increasingly connected global society. This means many varied career and post-secondary paths, supported by a foundation of critical learning options that include project-based, hands-on, and technical learning experiences. Options such as:
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Secondary Start Times |
Prior to the pandemic, East Penn was evaluating the potential impact of a shift to a later school start time for secondary students. Data supports matching secondary school start times to the circadian rhythms of our secondary students. This is a critical need here in East Penn that should still be evaluated as an option once we return to a sense of normalcy.
Read the Late Start Task Force's latest update here. Read my thoughts on the importance of starting school later here. |
Curriculum |
With the recent shift to the PA Common Core in 2013, our set of state standards set the expectation for what PA students are expected to be able to know and to be able to do by the time they graduate high school in order to be ready for a career or to attend a higher education program. The PACC is NOT a curriculum in and of itself. Rather, it is up to the district to ensure that its curriculum and instruction is aligned to those standards. Adam will work with the district and its teachers to ensure that its K-12 curriculum remains impactful, meets the needs of the students, and remains up to date so that our students can continue to compete in the workforce upon the completion of their schooling.
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Accountability for all Stakeholders |
Each student's success does not begin and end with the teacher in the classroom. Rather, as the African proverb goes, "it takes a village" in order to build that success. Research shows that this is not just a saying. I will hold the administration and EPSD's stakeholders accountable. Adam believes that every stakeholder, including administrators, board members, teachers, parents, and the community at large, must be held accountable for the success of our students.
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