Costs Irk School-Board Hopefuls
By Kori Walter, Reading Eagle, Pa.
Nov. 1–Three candidates for the Reading School Board said Monday night that cooperating with the city and other school districts along with aggressively pursuing federal and state grants would improve city schools and keep school property tax rates low.
During a Berks County League of Women Voters candidates forum televised on Berks Community Television, Philip S. Coles, William Cinfici and Harry Storch Jr. shared their ideas for governing a district with more than 16,000 students and a $124 million annual budget.
The three men are competing for four 4-year terms on the board in next Tuesday’s general election.
Also in the race are Catherine Biondo, Yvonne L. Stroman and incumbent Pierre V. Cooper. They did not participate in the forum.
Coles, a project manager with Giorgio Foods in Muhlenberg Township, said tax hikes would drive residents and businesses out of the city.
“The Reading School District is just like any other business,” he said. “It can’t just raise prices if it loses customers.”
He said the district could save money by teaming up with the city and other school districts to buy supplies and utility services.
The district also could start an alumni association to raise money for programs and could cooperate with nonprofit groups to provide services to students, Coles said.
Coles said the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Berks County mentoring program is an example of how the district can work with nonprofit organizations to keep students in school and out of trouble.
Cinfici, a local registrar with the state Department of Health’s division of vital records, said current board members, parents and teachers frequently suggest ways to trim costs.
“It’s good to look at the revenue side without raising taxes,” he said. “Waste (in the budget) has been found and it can be cut.”
After the forum, Cinfici said he would come up with specific cost cuts once he gets elected to the board and has a chance to see exactly how money is spent.
He added that the biggest problem facing the district is overcrowded classrooms.
“Hundreds of students are going to school in trailers,” Cinfici said.
Storch, a retired Reading policeman, served on the school board in the mid-1970s and late 1980s and is trying to return.
Reducing class sizes in kindergarten through fourth grade could improve education, Storch said.
Aggressively applying for state and federal grants could provide extra money for the schools and help the district avoid tax hikes, he said.
“Right now, I don’t think we have the good grant writers asking for that money,” Storch said.
Storch also was concerned that the district had only one truancy officer to combat rampant absenteeism in schools and opposed the district converting St. Joseph Medical Center into classrooms.
The hospital has offered to donate the facility at 13th and Walnut streets to the district when it moves into its new site in Bern Township in 2006.
But Storch said renovating the building and cleaning up the medical waste there could be too expensive.
“Look at all the sickness that is in those walls and the asbestos,” Storch said.
Incumbent Frederick H. Gaige is running unopposed for a two-year term on the board.
Board members do not receive a salary.
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