Op/Ed: How mandates raise your local school taxes

By Lisa Longo, President, Phoenixville Area School District Board of Education Lisa Longo Do you wonder sometimes why property taxes increase? I did and I decided to start attending school board meetings to understand. That was seven years ago. Now, as a member of our school board, I can share what I have learned. I discovered a large part of a school district budget is mandated. Congressional and...

Op/Ed: Vote No on Tuesday

By Lisa Longo, Member, the Phoenixville School Board and Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times We urge voters to vote NO on the ballot question on the back of Tuesday’s ballot.  Why? Well, generally tax reform is a good thing, but in this case, it might not be. So when you hear the word “reform,” it’s time to ask questions… and there are quite a few we need to ask. The PA constitution...

Unionville looks to boost activity fees

Maximum fee to top out at $100 per sport in 2014-15 By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times EAST MARLBOROUGH — It looks like most participation fees for sports and other school activities will be increasing for the 2014-15 school year in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District. The increases will be the first since the fees were put into place for the 2012-13 school year, although a handful of activities...