William Cinfici: A Successful Conservative School Director in an Urban District, Part I

           In this three-part series of posts, I shall describe my experience as a conservative school director in a liberal urban political environment, as promised.  The first part will be an introduction.  Part II will focus on my example of methods and advice for other school directors or other officeholders.  In the final part, I shall discuss the specific successful results of my service.

            I was elected a School Director of the Reading School District in 2005, winning the highest number of votes for the four seats open that year, thereby becoming only the third known Republican ever to serve on the Reading School Board of Directors in a city where Republicans are outnumbered 5:1 that was once a bastion of the Socialist Party.  I won not by campaigning as a moderate, but because of my conservative platform of fiscal responsibility, having promised to be the taxpayers’ advocate – a promise I was able to keep by cutting wasteful spending without raising taxes or sacrificing the quality of education.

            While Republicans re-nominated me without opposition, a changing electorate prevented me from again winning the Democratic nomination in 2009 and 2011, despite seldom receiving any public criticism and hearing only praise from the public.  As a result, I did not win those general elections, although I was able to both times to help a number of my like-minded Democrats to win and I have continued to advise current School Directors.  I should note that I did not begin the campaign season with the intent to seek public office in any of those three elections, but duty called when prominent members of both parties urged me to run for school board. 

            The Reading School District has about 18,000 students and a budget of about $230 million.  The District has the highest poverty rate in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a high number of special needs children and a high number of students who do not speak English as their native language.  There are nine seats on the School Board.  Directors serve without compensation.

            In short, the District seemed an unlikely place for a conservative to be elected, let alone successful.  But a number of natural circumstances made it possible, such as the presence on the board of colleagues who were either relatively conservative Democrats or were liberal but held moderate views on some issues.  Another key factor was the District’s considerable problems, such as overcrowding, antiquated buildings that were in disrepair, a lack of adequate safety and security, etc. which made it open to effective solutions.  Its lack of a tax base meant that the usual liberal method of raising taxes was not an option, which created an opening for conservative fiscal ideas.  Thus, liberal urban areas do create potential opportunities for conservative leadership, not only for mayors, but even for school directors.