FAQ

For the Municipal Primary on Tuesday, May 20, 2025:

• last day to register to vote: May 5, 2025;
• last day to request a mail-in or absentee ballot: May 13, 2025.

For the Municipal Election on Tuesday, November 4, 2025:

• last day to register to vote: October 20, 2025;
• last day to request a mail-in or absentee ballot: October 28, 2025.

Our campaign is a local, grassroots effort, funded by members of our YS community. We do not accept donations from national, politically motivated Political Action Committees (PACs).

No. Individual board members in Pennsylvania cannot join either association. States join NSBA or the Consortium of State School Boards Associations (COSSBA). School Districts join PSBA. YSSD is a member of PSBA. Pennsylvania requires school board member training by law, and PSBA provides that and helps keep policies up to date.

2024-2025 Budget

Instruction – 62.1%
Support Services – 26.6%
Other Expenditures – 9.7%
Non-Instructional – 1.6%
Total – $73,416,386

Source: YSSD Trojan Pride – Community Update

2024-2025 Budget

Local Sources – 76%
State Sources – 23%
Federal Sources – 1%
Total – $72,113,867

Source: YSSD Trojan Pride – Community Update

According to the Pennsylvania School Board Association, Pennsylvania ranks 44th in the country in the state’s share of funding for public schools. While many states fund public education near the 50% range, Pennsylvania covers only about 38% of the cost of public education on average. Local school districts are forced to make up the difference, mostly through property taxes.

Pennsylvania’s archaic state funding formula is based on enrollment information from 1991. York Suburban has added more than 1,000 students since then, without any increase in state funding.

In February 2023, a Commonwealth Court Judge deemed Pennsylvania’s school funding system unconstitutional.

YSSD currently ranks 3rd out of the 16 York County school districts (behind Northeastern and York City) in overall millage rate (amount of tax payable per dollar of the assessed value of a property).

PA Act 1 of 2006 limits the amount of tax increase that a school district can adopt annually. The adjusted index for 2025-2026 is 4.9%. YSSD has typically held tax increases to below the legal limit; since 2016-2017 the district only went to the index once.

A newly released audit from Pennsylvania Auditor General Tim DeFoor’s office of five Pennsylvania cyber charter schools confirms that Pennsylvania’s cyber charter school funding system is deeply flawed and in need of urgent reform.

Charter school tuition amounts are calculated by a state formula that does not consider the actual cost of charter school operations, and are the same whether the student attends a brick and mortar or cyber charter school.

In 2021-2022 YSSD paid $2,662,000 for charter school tuition:

$14,773 for each regular education student and
$31,047 for each special education student.

Source: YSSD Budget Office.

These tuition payments are based on each district’s per pupil expenditures, not on the actual costs of educating a student online.

The same special education tuition is charged for any level of services a single student may need – from a minor speech impediment to severe neurological challenges.

Cyber charters are currently sitting on millions of dollars of reserves – funded in part by YSSD taxpayers – and consistently underperform state averages in testing.

Critical Race Theory is not taught at YSSD because it’s not an appropriate part of an elementary or secondary curriculum and is not responsive to state standards. Our educators follow the curriculum guidelines from the Pennsylvania Department of Education – which do not include any teaching of Critical Race Theory.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion promotes the fair treatment and full participation of all students. It involves the recognition that we do not all start from the same place, and we must acknowledge and adjust imbalances in education.

“Equity” is the quality of being fair and impartial.

Creating a culture of inclusion helps reduce and prevent bullying.

Social and Emotional Learning (which Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street taught children for decades without controversy) is the process of developing the self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills that are vital for school, work, and life success. People with strong social-emotional skills are better able to cope with everyday challenges, and benefit academically, professionally, and socially.

Social-emotional skills include empathy (the ability to understand and share the feelings of another), emotion management, and social problem-solving.

SEL is a component of anti-bullying programs, improves students’ mental health and academic achievement, and prepares them to succeed as adults.