Lisa A. Roth has announced her candidacy for re-election to the Parkland School District Board.

“May 2023 marks my 30th anniversary of residing in the Parkland School District,” Roth said. “As soon as my children started attending school, I became a member of the PTO and began volunteering with their youth sports organization, Scouts and township events.

“That involvement continued on up through middle school and, when my oldest was in eighth grade, I joined the Parkland Community Advisory Council.

“That connection with the administration, other parents and students from the other Parkland schools is what really lit the fire in me to want to do even more outreach and service within this great community of ours.”

Roth says the past 14 years on the Parkland School Board has also given her the opportunity to get more involved with the Parkland Community Library, Friends of the PCL, the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit, Lehigh Career and Technical Institute, National Night Out annual programs and countless events at all 12 of the Parkland schools.

“These interactions are constant reminders that it is about all the stakeholders who contribute to making this Parkland School District community a very special place to live, learn and work,” Roth said.

Roth says in her opinion, the primary goals of a school board director are:

·Being invested in the children of this community and helping provide the very best education to all students.

·Hiring the best superintendent possible and working with them to insure our staff are happy in their jobs and also vested in these students.

·Being committed to passing a sound budget - one that is mindful of taxpayers, but also meets the needs of those services we’ve come to expect from PSD.

She says a secondary, but still very important goal should be to tirelessly advocate at the commonwealth level.

“Pennsylvania is 43rd in the country when it comes to the share of revenue for local school districts that come from the state, which means the burden is passed to local taxpayers through property taxes,” Roth said. “Beyond that, mandated costs for school districts like cyber charter school payments, pension costs and special education have skyrocketed while increases in funding from the state have remained modest.

“School board members have all that cost-specific data available to them, and we should be using this to constantly advocate with our state reps to lift the burden off local taxpayers to fill the gap.”

Roth says one of her favorite quotes is from Mark Twain:

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

“Each time I’ve been sworn in as a Parkland School Board member is a day I’ve answered my ‘why,’” Roth explained.