School Board Candidate: Amy Billerbeck

After serving on the Upper St. Clair School Board for four years, and serving as the board president for two of those years, Amy Billerbeck is again running as a candidate.

"I'm passionate about education," Billerbeck said.

Billerbeck has lived in Upper St. Clair for 18 years. She has two daughters that attended Upper St. Clair schools, kindergarten through grade 12. Her older daughter just graduated from the University of Michigan and her younger just finished up her freshman year at Penn State.

"Having had both of them go through the district gives me an appreciation on how kids are prepared for college," Billerbeck said.

Billerbeck believes there are a number of factors that contribute to the district's success. She said there is a great staff in place, teachers who really care about their students and parents who are engaged. In turn she said, this motivates our students.

"We have a community that values education," Billerbeck said. "It makes it a district desirable to serve."

Billerbeck knows there are going to be budget challenges ahead.

"I want to do everything we can to keep moving the school district forward," Billerbeck said. "We're going to have to reduce expenses as much as we can and we're going to have to ask for sacrifices from all of our stakeholders."

She said that may include asking parents to pay for their children to participate in certain activities and purchase their children's school supplies.

"Public education is going to have to evolve and we have a district well positioned for that."

Billerbeck said the school board is already making moves to be financially prudent. Paperless registration has saved the district money and the LEED certification at the renovated middle school will help cut future bills. The district is in the process of hiring an advancement officer to be in charge of finding fundraising for the schools and the district's business manager is working to refinance bonds to save the district about $326,000.

"I'm proud for what our board has done in the last four years," Billerbeck said. "We are focused on education."