Julian Stolz

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• Age: 23
• Residence: Upper Milford
• Do you have children in the district? Not yet
• Politics: Conservative Republican
• Experience: Executive Director of Pennsylvanian's for Right to Work, East Penn School Board Member 2007-Present, Member of Lehigh County Republican Committee 2005-2007, former intern for State Senator Rob Wonderling.

1.    What motivates you to want to become a board member?

I feel that the School Board needs to be more transparent with the public. I take issue with raising taxes year after year when the district has expressed an unwillingness to take even basic steps towards transparency- such as webcasting Board meetings, responding to concerns expressed at the public comment portions of meetings, and posting the check register online. The Board also needs to advocate for taxpayers and children when at the bargaining table with the Unions; not be just an extension of the Unions. For example, why does the school district collect dues for the Teacher’s Union, the single most powerful political entity in the state of Pennsylvania? Union dues are used for political purposes, including influencing school board elections. It is a conflict of interest for the District to collect Union dues, and yet, it is current policy. I will work to put an end to this.

2.    What do you see as the board’s roles and responsibilities?

The board must act in the best interests of the education of the children of East Penn and must act as good stewards of the taxpayer’s money. Contracts with bargaining units must be negotiated with these goals in mind, since the single biggest expenditure in the budget is salary and benefits. 4.9% annual increases for teachers (or any East Penn staff for that matter), are simply unreasonable. An increase of half that amount would allow for a savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year that could go towards paying down debt and hiring new teachers in order to decrease class sizes.

3.    What is your vision for education in this community?

The high quality of education in East Penn must be maintained as the number one goal of the School Board. Our teachers are, regrettably, constrained by state and federal mandates, that stifle the creativity of our educators and instead force them to “teach to the test.” I would like to see a list of mandates presented to the School Board and the public, so we may see what strings are attached to certain funds that we receive from Washington and Harrisburg. We can then decide if we should be accepting some of this money, and, more importantly, how we can, as a board and a community, lobby our local legislative representatives to put an end to some of these mandates so that our teachers can do their jobs, unfettered by the shackles of state and federal edicts.

4.    What do you see as the primary work of the board?

I see the primary work of the East Penn School District Board of Directors as:

(A) working with our administration and staff to maintain, and, where possible, improve upon the high quality of education in our district.

(B) act as advocates for the children and taxpayers at the bargaining table with our Union representatives.

(C) be good stewards of the taxpayers money, mindful that we are taxing the very places where they live.

(D) advocating for our children and taxpayers when it comes to lobbying our legislative representatives in Harrisburg and Washington D.C.

5.    What are the current challenges facing education/school boards?

Increasing costs and mandates without increasing revenue. School districts are faced with ever increasing underfunded and unfunded mandates from the state and federal governments. “Teaching to the test” as mandated by No Child Left Behind has been an unmitigated disaster for our educational system and programs like this stifle the very creativity of our educators.

6.    Would you support a tax increase?

I would not support a tax increase unless I could look the taxpayers in the eye and tell them that I knew I had done everything possible to prevent raising the tax on their homes. I cannot support a tax increase until I know that contracts have been reasonably negotiated, schools are no longer being built with skylights that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that, in economically difficult times, frivolous expenditures of the taxpayers money on things like shiny new baseball stadiums are no longer taking place.

7.    Can you think of any district expenses that should be cut?

Expenses can be decreased by properly and responsibly negotiating collective bargaining agreements (such as the contract with the Teacher’s Union that is up for re-negotiation in 2012). Additionally, projects such as the Emmaus Baseball Stadium that cost the district hundreds of thousands of dollars should be put off until we can afford to pay for them.

8.    Do you support merit pay for teachers?

In theory, yes, however I want to see what system is used to determine “merit” first. If it’s more “teaching to the (state or national) test” then it is something I would oppose.

9.    Are you in favor of the Governor’s school voucher proposal?

I am in favor of school choice in all instances; however, I would like to see the state live up to its constitutional obligation to provide a “thorough and efficient system of education”. School Choice should be provided but public education must be fully funded and not shoved off onto the backs of local property owners. I hope the Governor will advocate forcefully for a new method of funding public education to replace the property tax. I would personally prefer to see a broadening of the statewide sales tax along with allowing school districts to implement impact fees on developers.

10. How do you think Gov. Corbett’s proposed budget will affect East Penn?

Negatively. The Governor is cutting state funding for education and shirking his duty to provide a “thorough and efficient system of education” as specified in the Pennsylvania State Constitution. I do not wish to see a statewide tax increase but this is also making it much more difficult for School Districts to balance their budgets without doing so on the backs of homeowners.

• Do you have a social media page, such as a Facebook account? I have facebook. Please feel free to “Friend” me. It’s always nice to have new friends.
• Do you tweet?

         East Penn School Board Candidates

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