I am announcing my candidacy for Scranton School Board.

If the district were headed in the right direction, I would be happy to spend time with my wife, Michelle, and my two young sons, Thomas and Joseph.  But the district has taken a dark turn.  In a time when there is a budget surplus and a windfall of Covid-relief funds, we are seeing program cuts and tax increases.  This is not fair to Scranton’s families.

We’ve lost Pre-K when it provided no savings to do so.  Schools are going to close.  Six-year olds are being forced to walk 1½ miles to school.  

Who thinks these are good things?

This past year the district had a $6 million surplus.  Add to that the $17 million in Covid relief funds about to come our way.  We can save schools, we can preserve programs, and we can bounce back.

But it’s going to take work.  

I want to make a commitment to you now:  when I served on the Board in 2019, I was the most transparent Director and I am reaffirming my commitment to that kind of transparency on behalf of the community.  I wrote up nearly every meeting and published reasons for my votes.  I broke down the Recovery Plan for everybody.  I went to almost every PTA and put in long hours answering nearly every email, text, phone call, and Facebook message I received.

That’s what a public servant does.

And that’s what Scranton needs.

In my brief nine months of serving the people of Scranton, I fought for fair funding and to save our schools.  I will continue that fight if elected to serve.  

I’ve given it my all before and I recognize that it’s not enough.  That’s why I need your support.  We need somebody with experience who believes in transparency and responding to the will of the community.

I can’t win without you.  Let’s work together to make our District better.

Respectfully,

Tom Borthwick