On January 11, 2022, the Elizabethtown Area School District board of directors were polled and voted in favor of looking into avoiding any tax increases and eliminate an additional $1 million dollars from their budget. These cuts could threaten extra-curricular programs, athletics, and elective classes. Students at EASD have a right to an education on par with other districts throughout the country. Elective classes, arts, music, and athletics must be included in order to offer a curriculum that lives up to the standards of a US education. Students need these choices in order to enjoy school, to become well-rounded citizens, and to compete for jobs and colleges. 

While the community is rightly invested in how taxpayer dollars are spent, cutting the budget without a larger overall plan to provide a good experience for our students wastes the resources the district has invested over decades by sending our teachers looking for stability in other districts and allowing our infrastructure to decline. Stripping down public schools in order to meet the district's financial obligations for charter payments and pension funds is shortsighted. A better solution would be to address funding inequities in the legislature and through the fair funding trial that is now in the Commonwealth Court system (William Penn School District et al. v. Pennsylvania Department of Education et al.). Cutting the EASD budget dramatically will not solve the long-term funding problems in our district, but it will devastate the quality of education now. We insist that the school board live up to its responsibility to provide for and protect the interests of EASD students. 

The solution offered by the school board creates more problems than it solves, and jeopardizes the well being of all students, both present and future, of the Elizabethtown Area School District. We are asking for the board to maintain our arts, music, sports, and elective programs.