Candidate for
School Director; Wissahickon School District

Comments from Shirley White, Blue Bell resident:

In the upcoming election for the Wissahickon School Board, one candidate stands out as being truly exceptional. Barbara Moyer has devoted 16 years to service on the Board and is its most experienced and knowledgeable member.

Barbara Moyer is a dedicated public servant, having devoted thousands of volunteer hours to serving the needs of the District and its students. She has worked tirelessly to raise the quality of education our children receive, particularly in the language arts, mathematics and technology areas, and to improve the operation of our co-curricular programs. She understands where Board members need to focus their energies and has consistently made student learning her top priority.

Throughout her tenure on the Board, Barbara Moyer has carefully evaluated funding requests and has closely monitored actual expenditures to ensure that funds spent are cost-effective and are directly linked to improving student achievement. She has not been afraid to vote against annual budgets when they have contained too many frills or padded figures, but has always been willing to spend for worthwhile improvements to the educational program. She strikes the appropriate balance between supporting program initiatives and being fiscally prudent.

Most importantly, Barbara Moyer holds the staff accountable for performing their best on behalf of our students. She does not make lengthy or demonstrative speeches at meetings; instead, she asks probing questions that force respondents to develop measurable criteria for defining success, and to honestly evaluate whether they have achieved their intended results. These are the areas in which her experience and ability to dig into vast quantities of data are invaluable.

Comments from Dave Ullery, Blue Bell resident:

It is the Board that determines the amount of school tax on your property. For most of us this is the second largest tax we pay each year. In 2004/05, under Democratic leadership, the Board increased the millage by 6.53% when the state CPI increased only 3.30%. The following year the same Democratic leadership increased the millage 5.21% while the CPI increased 3.10%. That's a whooping 11.74% increase in our school taxes in just 2 yrs.

Since 2006/07 we have had Republicans leading the board. While the CPI increased an average of 3.95% in the past 4 years, our board did not increase our taxes in 3 of those years and approved a modest 1.81% increase in the remaining year. The Republicans have used sound financial management to improve the quality of education in our district. This effort was recently recognized by Standard & Poor's when they awarded Wissahickon a AAA bond rating, the first to a PA school district.

Ideally we would like to be nonpartisan in school board elections; but unfortunately, many of our citizens cannot afford the tax and spend philosophy of the Democrats. I have seen neighbors move because they could no longer afford to live in our school district. On May 19th please join me in voting for Barbara Moyer for Wissahickon School Board; it is imperative we elect individuals who will continue the prudent fiscal management we have had the last four years.