Submitted by Andrew Bowman
While June is often thought of as a time of dormancy for academic institutions, the truth of the matter is anything but. For the faculty and staff of our schools, June, and by extension the rest of Summer, is a time as busy as ever, with the downtime between academic years providing a natural place for change to take hold and for decisions to be made. And nowhere is this more apparent than at the school board, where despite it being Summer vacation, there is plenty of work that needs to be done.
On June 12th, the West Shore School Board held its first of two June meetings to handle the business of this transitory period. The agenda was rather long, containing 21 business items, a stark departure from the usual 7-14. Despite the amount of items, the meeting was relatively short due to the absence of board members Brian Guistwhite, Heidi Thomas, and Amanda Davis as well as most of the items pertaining to contractual matters that received little discussion. That is not to say however that nothing of substance occurred. In fact, buried within the staff changes and partnership agreements, some rather substantial decisions were made.
The first of these matters was the conclusion of the months-long discussion on the 2025-2026 annual budget, which was incorrectly reported as having occurred on May 8th when the board adopted the budget proposal. In contrast to previous meetings, wherein budget discussion was defined by a debate over whether certain administrative staff such as multiple assistant principals at certain schools are necessary to district’s functionality deserved to be factored into the year-over-year tax increase. In previous meetings, multiple members, most notably Heidi Thomas, felt uneasy about these staff, and pushed for any adopted budget to make cuts to these positions to make the district more financially solvent and/or reduce the necessary tax hike. This sentiment has also been presented in public comment by Sandra Gonzales, who unsuccessfully ran for the Republican primary in Region 3 of the School District and harshly criticized the board for their anticipated approval of the budget on Thursday. Gonzales even went as to invoke the Economic Growth PAC, a right-wing organization operating in York County that has endorsed five of the board’s nine members as well as Gonzalez. Their pledge includes, according to the York Dispatch, that endorsed school board candidates vote against “critical race theory,” “social emotional learning”, and most pertinently to the topic at hand, “Vote against any tax increase except in emergency situations. Prioritizing making tough decisions when cuts are necessary instead of raising taxes”.
As for the policy discussion itself, David Brinton took lead, noting that he is not a fan of raising taxes, but understands that it sometimes can’t be avoided; a sentiment shared by Christopher Kambic, who portrayed the tax increase as a reflection of the rising costs across the board and the increasingly pressing need for major renovations at certain schools such as Allen Middle School. After the meeting, I discussed this viewpoint with Mr. Brinton, who stressed the need for efficient return from the taxpayer money that the district spends, which he believes the district is currently getting and would continue to get under the adopted budget proposal, ultimately leading to vote for it. Kelly Brent, another fiscal conservative on the board, conducted her own research to identify the driving forces behind the tax increase and how the district’s millage rate (the amount a landowner pays per dollar in the value of their property, expressed in thousandths of a dollar) compares to other districts in the area. In the former area, Brent’s research echoed Kambic’s statements regarding increasing operational expenses and the need for facility work as well as Superintendent Dr. Todd Stoltz’s statements last month regarding the increasing number of state-mandated programs that the district has to self-fund and the rising need for special education. And as for millage, Brent pointed out that the district’s millage rates for Cumberland and York Counties are in line with other district’s current millage rates, and even the proposed is within the ranges of other school districts, who are undoubtedly also considering millage increases. Brent also mentioned that the district is looking for other ways to bring in revenue, such as interest from bond borrowing, utilization of public grant money, and an unnamed new source of revenue. Additionally, both Kelly Brent and her opponent for the November election Teri Mickle asked members of the public to advocate for PA House Bill 1500, which aims to reform cyber charter school funding by increasing accountability and transparency, something the board would greatly like as they have repeatedly characterized the current cyber charter funding system as being exploitable and diverting money that could be used for programs like all-day Kindergarten. On the subject of all-day Kindergarten, board member Adam Trone, who voted against the adoption of the budget last month, changed his outlook this month, saying that while the current budget doesn’t allocate any funds towards launching an all-day Kindergarten program for all students, he has seen things that tell him that all-day Kindergarten is a serious priority of the district. The board passed the budget 6-0.
Of course, there were other matters of business to attend to, but the budget remained heavy in the minds of all involved. Much of the remainder of the meeting touched on programs related to state grants, most notably the PA Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP), which the district has been receiving more money as of late. This has spurred the district to actively seek to hire someone to manage the procurement and compliance of these funds, a position that the district expects to pay for itself. This led into two somewhat lengthy discussions, one regarding the amount of work associated with grant management and another about the need to balance the prioritization of projects eligible for grants with projects that are more pressingly needed but not as grant-eligible, which Abigail Tierney expressed concern over. This is especially given the lack of public knowledge on the terms of these grants, which for example may require the district to match funds. Another concern of Tierney’s revolved around the School Based ACCESS Program (SBAP), which she fears may be impacted by changes to federal funding regarding Medicaid, though no one else at the meeting had heard anything that would suggest concern.
Once business items were concluded, information items were presented, including the revised board policies similarly dense agenda for the next meeting on June 19th, which includes the previously reported on changes to Board Policy 801 Public Records, a transportation agreement for students with special transportation needs with First Student subsidiary First Alt, and an update on the Red Land natatorium. The last of these is of the most note as the multi-project endeavor to fully upgrade Red Land’s athletic grounds and facilities has been a hot topic, especially when it comes to cost of renovating the natatorium and the questions surrounding when Red Land will finally get a stadium. And this topic has come under increased scrutiny in both the media and the public as of late. According to Seth Kaplan of ABC27, Fairview Township, whose board of supervisors includes two relatives of board member Brenda Cox, one of whom is the Chairman, has set aside $175,000 willed to the township to help fund the stadium project, which would serve both Fairview Township and New Cumberland. Whether this will have consequences in either the township or school district remains to be seen. Regardless, things are moving along at an appreciable pace at the West Shore School District, and given the list of tasks yet to be done, it’s a pace the board will need to hold.