Vote for the first FOUR (and Charles Pike)

Here is the official order of the candidates on the Nov 3, 2009 ballot:

Delaware Valley School District School Director
(Vote for not more than FOUR)

Pam Lutfy (Democratic/Republican)
Sue Schor (Democratic/Republican)
Jack Fisher (Democratic/Republican)
Bill Greenlaw (Democratic)
Robert Goldsack (Republican)

Vote counts from the primary:

Pam Lutfy (1,337 total votes)
Sue Schor (1,269 total votes)
Jack Fisher (1,132 total votes)
Bill Greenlaw (1,106 total votes)
Robert Goldsack ( 674 total votes)

For those that care about political parties: ALL the candidates in this school board race are registered Republicans.

Three of the candidates prevailed in both primaries, the other two candidates rounded out the field of four in the Democratic and Republican primaries.

Please ask all your Republican friends NOT to select the party line vote option, but to vote for the BEST candidates in the school board race.

PA law allows School Board candidates (and candidates for the Court of Common Pleas) to petition to be put on the ballot in the Democratic and Republican primary, regardless of the party affiliation of the candidate. Pennsylvania considers these offices as non-political All of the candidates sought to be listed on both the Democratic and Republican primary ballot.

Charles Pike is the only candidate on the ballot for the two year slot, so it looks like Chuck will be on the DV School Board starting in December. Early Congratulations to Chuck!

The Tie is Broken!

The tie on the Republican side of the ballot was broken today at noon.

For the play by play, see Ryan Baton's blog, RBforDV.

There will be 5 candidates vying for 4 seats in November. Pam Lutfy, Sue Schor, Jack Fisher, Bill Greenlaw and Bob Goldsack will be on the ballot November 3, 2009.

Chuck Pike will be the only candidate on the ballot for the 2-yr slot.

An update was published in the on-line edition of the Pike County Courier, and the Pike County Dispatch.

This November...

REMEMBER...

...EVERY vote counts!

Short Term Comfort, Long Term Problems

Fiscal discipline is unpopular!!

Stimulants make a human or corporate body feel good temporarily, although easy to swallow they blur reality. They also lead to massive hangovers.

The inclusion in the Plan A of the 2009/10 Delaware Valley School District Budget of federal stimulants at first made everyone on the DV school board giddy with "hope". Millions of dollars to spend without consequence or pain. Last night we witnessed board members in the depths of despair, an almost depression like response, to the news that less stimulant was coming. The hangover is next. Parents be prepared!!!. Everyone has locked unbreakable contracts except your children. Board member Wrobleski constantly reminded the audience that full day kindergarten is not state mandated. Taxpayer United candidates in the past have railed against athletic programs all of which are not state mandated. Many other programs like transportation to and from school is not totally state funded or mandated.

A true fiscal conservative, as I am, would never have allowed the stimulant into the budgetary system. Artificial stimulants like steroids look good in the short run but kill your vital components rapidly. A good looking corpse is still not alive.

The need for a long term multi-year approach to budgeting has never been more clear at the Delaware Valley School District. Removal of the stimulant and hard choices about what is necessary in the budget would have shown more clearly the financial situation at DV.

Instead the DV School Board drank the kool-aid and are asking all the taxpayers to do the same.

I say resist .

Best regards,

JACK FISHER - Candidate for Delaware Valley School Board

Maintaining Fiscal Discipline

To the Editor:

Fiscal discipline is hard medicine!

The need for a long term multi-year approach to budgeting has never been more clear.

After listening intently to last nights DVSD budget presentation of Plan A and Plan B, I make this simple statement: "Turn down the stimulus money."

As a way of background to my coming to this conclusion, let me say how impressed I was with the honest and open acknowledgment and clear presentation by School Supt. Dr. Candis Finan of the significant problems that our school district has with 5th grade. It matches the problem presented last fall with 11th grade and the inability to meet AYP. The need to spend significant sums of money on a new curriculum was shown to be evident. No objections were made by anyone in attendance that combating deficiencies in the educational continuum must be waged. I caution that If Dr. Finan were presenting these budgetary needs simply as a way to get more federal funding she would lose all integrity, perhaps her job. I know she values her integrity and good name so I do not fear this the case.

Hence , I applauded the Supt., the Board and Chair of Budget Finance and Audit Ed Silverstone on his work on the expenditure side of the $70M budget, a $3M increase from last year. He even restored a small portion of funds to the CAPEX Reserve as I had urged. That was a small but good step to make.

However, on the revenue side of the budget there remains great uncertainty as to the amount of federal stimulus money the DVSD will ultimately receive. Plan A calls for the revenue side of the to receive $3.3 million in federal stimulus funds. Plan B calls for the revenue side to receive $2 million less in federal stimulus funds. The PA State Senate has already voted overwhelmingly AGAINST DV getting the $3.3. The fight now goes to the PA House. Then on to Governor Rendell.

If you were preparing an honest budget would you use the $3.3M number to balance your budget.? I would not. Revenue must always be projected conservatively.

In the real business world such dramatic and traumatic uncertainty would never be relied upon to produce a balanced budget revenue projection. However, in the world of high stakes power politics being played from Washington to Harrisburg to Pike County, the DV School Board will vote next week to recommend Plan A. to the public and authorize the administration to begin the implementation of plans to address the problems in fifth and elenventh grade. Why? Simple. Plan A has been calculated to produce a local tax increase of 0%. Yes, another major increase in spending by a government entity without any taxpayer pain.

No pain at the federal level, no pain at the state level, no pain at the local level. All the pain is deferred to the future level. Our children and grandchildren will be forced to either pay for this new debt or be forced to pay, for all their lives, the interest on the debt this "painless stimulus" has produced. Money and power is an addictive narcotic. The Federal government, like a drug dealer on the streets, is saying "here just try it once. You will like it" or "here it’s free money, who does not like free money?".

I urge Mr. Silverstone to prepare a three to five year budget that details for the taxpayers what happens when the "stimulus money" under Plan A is gone. I urge him to do what he would do if he were the CFO of a real business enterprise faced with such uncertainty. Would he truly rely on such uncertain revenue streams to meet the demands of the expenditure stream increases that he will approve next week.?

Leaders make the hard calls. I say reject the injection of the federal stimulus. Mr. Silverstone, "Don’t get hooked." Then reexamine cold -turkey your revenues and expenditure projections over the next 36 to 48 months. Because you are an honest man, you’ll find the right answer.

Best regards,

Jack Fisher

Candidate for Delaware Valley School Board.

The Case for Fiscal Discipline

To the Editor:

Fiscal discipline is hard medicine. Fiscal discipline is unpopular. Fiscal discipline has no short cuts.

However, once fiscal discipline is exercised over a period of time it leads to financial good health, stability and lean financial muscle.

Politicians seeking office and the power it brings to them have long loathed fiscal discipline. These power seekers have overspent( creating huge deficits), under invested ( leading to failing infrastructure and wiping out long-term reserves) and made promises of future monies without proper funding sources in place.( Unfunded liabilities left to our children and grandchildren.)

This lust for power is evidenced at the federal and state level. Massive new debt, trillions in new deficits. Lack of transparency and accountability.

Now the lust for power has come to the Delaware Valley School District.

DV School Board President Bob Goldsack has reduced reserve funding nearly 80% over his four year term. Reserves are the lean body mass needed for financial well being. Such unbalanced long term planning is seriously shortsighted. Bob Goldsack refuses to address the pension problem he helped cause when he voted to massively increase salaries. Ed Silverstone, Chairman of the Budget , finance and Audit committee, recently commented on the "over 41% starting salary increase" at the Matamoras Meet the Candidates night held by my fellow Republicans. Pensions are a mathematical function of salaries. They too are a reserve. Increasing salaries increases the need for pension reserve funding increases. The pension funding issue is awaiting the next school board due to the Goldsack miscalculations and lack of understanding of the role of reserves.

The good folks who support Mr. Goldsack need to ask themselves:. Why is spending overall increasing at the same time Mr. Goldsack is touting a single year level tax rate of 100.87 mils. How did the rate of the millage remain the same from the prior year, which by the way Goldsack voted against, when spending went up and student population went down.? The answer is that years of fiscal discipline went into setting the rate at 100.87 mils. It did not happen by luck. Why would Mr. Goldsack vote against it in year one and then vote for it in year two.?

Answer: He is an old school politician.

I ask the citizens of the DV School District to vote for "Directors" on May 19th. Directors are Leaders. We do not need more politicians.

Vote for Leaders.

Vote for FISHER, GREENLAW, LUTFY, PIKE and SCHOR.

Best regards,

JACK FISHER 

Candidate for Delaware Valley School Board.