Residents seek to change school districts

From East Stroudsburg to Wallenpaupack Porter Township — Residents in rural Porter Township are paying the East Stroudsburg School District $1,810,603.84 to educate approximately 48 children, or over $38,000 per child. For that kind of investment organizers of the Porter Township Initiative say their children should be getting the best, but they are not. For this reason, and others, their grass roots effort is being made to change their school district to Wallenpaupack, which they say is a superior school district. Last week, members of the Initiative, began a petition drive to change their school district from East Stroudsburg to Wallenpaupack. The reason is “a superior education for its children at almost half the cost,” A statement from organizers went on to say the change is all about education. Adequate Yearly Progress goals, or AYP, is set by the Federal Government. The targets are 80% graduation, 45% in math, 54% in reading and 95% of the students must take the test. East Stroudsburg has met 50% of the total standards and Wallenpaupack has met 80%. Literally every test score in SAT’s, reading and math is higher in Wallenpaupack. The data is available at schooldatadirect.com, or the Pennsylvania Department of Education. They say that many other reasons for change, other than test scores, exist. Safety at East Stroudsburg’s High School is an issue with many families. Special needs programs are better at Wallenpaupack. The rural characteristics of Porter are closer to that of Wallenpaupack, which relates to weather as well. Originally, Porter was with the Wallenpaupack district. Supporters claim that this change not only impacts the 48 students but the 1,108 tax paying residents of Porter. This move will lower their school taxes by 47%. The majority of residents are retired or without children. Porter is classified as a low income/poverty level township. “In 2008 the taxes were based on 115.35 mills and that will probably go up. At Wallenpaupack the taxes were based on 60.67 mills, and that’s down from the year before,” according to an initiative statement. Survey letters were sent to each parent and the results indicated that the majority of the families, with children in East Stroudsburg, want a change. Those who live in the Hemlock Farms area are closer to Wallenpaupack and all but one family is ready for a change. Those who live in Spruce Run are farther from Wallenpaupack and still the majority is looking for something better.