East Penn School District board race features 11 candidates for four spots

Patrick Lester

In the East Penn School District, where property taxes have climbed roughly 5 percent in each of the past five years, people are turning to politics for relief.

Eleven candidates are competing for four available seats on the board of one of the region's largest school districts, creating the potential for electoral fireworks.

A group calling itself the reform slate -- Jennifer Bandle, Rebecca Heid, Giovanni Landi and Mike Policano -- want an end to the streak at a time when many are losing jobs or getting little or no raises.

''What we're saying is, with proper fiscal management in place, there should be no reason to continuously hike taxes,'' Heid said.

Running separately from the reform slate are John F. Belin, William A. Ehrlich, Michael Moxley and Nancy Watkins. All are challenging incumbents Alan Earnshaw, Francee E. Fuller and Mark Prinzinger.

Fuller said she was ready to quit the board on which she's served since 2001 until she heard the reform group's campaign message. ''Having seen people not interested in education come forward,'' she said, ''I felt I need to at least try to retain my seat.''

Fuller and Earnshaw, the board's current president, said it's unrealistic to eliminate tax hikes completely. The board is eyeing a possible 3.9 percent hike for next school year. Since 2003-04, the bill for a property assessed at $60,000 has increased from $2,014 to $2,536, unofficial calculations show.

''You just can't wave a magic wand and say you don't want to pay those bills,'' Earnshaw said.

Prinzinger has been critical of the reform group's knowledge of the district, but pointed out that he voted against the district's current $111 million spending plan, which included a 4.4 percent tax hike.

Ehrlich and Watkins both said that tax increases are sometimes needed. That's particularly true in a bad economy and when a four-year teacher contract gives annual raises of about 4.9 percent, Ehrlich said. Watkins said 4 percent tax hikes ''seem pretty reasonable.''

Belin, who calls himself a financial ''watchdog,'' voiced concerns similar to the reform group, saying he objected to the recent 3.2 percent raise and $3,000 given to Superintendent Thomas Seidenberger because ''our families are struggling.''

Moxley thinks both sides of the debate have good intentions. He said the 3.9 percent tax hike the school board is considering for next school is unacceptable, but ''I don't think our schools can maintain a high level of education with no tax increases.''

All but three of the candidates have cross-filed on both the Democratic and Republican ballots. Belin, Moxley and Prinzinger are running only on the Republican side.

patrick.lester@mcall.com

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