I could not make the meeting, and of course this board does not deem we citizens important enough to broadcast the meetings like most other progressive districts, so I have to ask anyone who attended: did they provide any budget information to the public in the form of hard copy handouts or screen shots of data they were discussing?

How about we drop 2 off the school board and 2 off the administration and save a bundle of money. We don't need all of them.

School Board Members are public servants that voluntarily give of their time and receive no stipend.

Great consideration must be made for those lifelong homeowners in the communities of Baldwin and Whitehall who are on fixed incomes and currently walking a financial tight rope.
A slight increase in taxes could affect a few but a substantial increase in
taxes could seriously affect more. And as a result the trickle down affect could devalue property values in these communiities and the outcome could be worse
in the end.
Currently these communities are peppered with foreclosures. An increase in taxes could increase this phenomenon which in turn will negatively affect the
property values of these communities.
A dilemma so much more relevant today then yesterday considering the economics of our town, city and country. With wages of many near stagnation and others on fixed incomes and those out of work due to no fault of their own..
The choices are few and the times are tough and decisions have to be made
with common sense, integrity and the least fallout.

All school districts in Pennsylvania are getting less money from the State and all schools in the US are going to be getting less money in Federal. It is a shame that they are cutting budgets to fund schools all over but that is how government is trying to make their budgets work.

There are foreclosures everywhere in the US, most of them were caused by balloon mortgages, people buying what they couldn't afford, loss of good paying jobs. Pennsylvania is actually lucky that the prices in homes haven't dropped over the last 10 years as it has in other states.

I don't like the thought of paying more in taxes either but that something that you should expect with being a home owner every year. I was taught years ago in in Economics that if you pay for everything in cash, minus a home or vehicle as most can't afford to pay cash for these items and not to do impulse buying you end up with more money in your pocket. Took me 2 years to pay off my credit cards and my line of credit from the bank and feel I have more money now than what I was making 10 years ago.

It's great that so many people showed up last night to voice their budget concerns. Everyone should ask themselves, however, how would they have know any details of what was being considered if Bob Healy had not been present at last weeks special budget meeting and provided the information in his article? The answer is no one would have know a thing because this board is deliberately withholding information. That's right, deliberately. The only budget related document available to the public is the draft 12-13 budget from last December. By contrast, I invite people to visit the North Hill School District budget web page at http://www.nhsd.net/adminoffice.cfm?subpage=36569, and review the several summary documents they've provided to their residents. And, by the way, note that they have a budget review committee, and look at this nice little statement under Public Participation: "For those who are unable to attend scheduled meetings. ALL school board meetings are videotaped and can be viewed on the district’s website." All of these methods of providing information to the public, which in turn promotes public participation, are very, very, easy to do and have been suggested many times to this board. So, the fact that the leadship of this board has done absolutely nothing along these lines is part of deliberate effort to prevent the public from being fully informed, which is exactly what they want because it avoids questions they would prefer not to have to answer.

The real concern is whenever any home owner hears of increases its always the property owner that cringes because we homeowners know the outcome. We always pay more, but we also have to run our homes on a budget and we just can't afford to let increases happen at the boards leisure. Until everyone pays for taxes and not just homeowners, I'll have this attitude.

The next teachers contract should have a residency clause for teachers... All current teachers are grandfathered in... All new teachers have 6 months from start date. Or have to pay X% of a school tax.

Doesn't matter where the teachers live, Baldwin Whitehall needs to hold teachers accountable for their students test scores.

JustMe, I believe that one of your comments directly alluded to alleged inappropriate activity by a B-W School Board member. I deleted that part of that comment. The rest is as follows: "Marion they might be public servants that volunteer for our district but they do have nice perks."