OLEY — A rural Berks County school board that’s made headlines for some members’ controversial and extreme views is poised for a shake-up in this year’s general election.
Of the nine seats on the Oley Valley School District board, six are up for grabs. Just two incumbents will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Candidates told Spotlight PA they’ll bring balance and moderation to operations and discussions, and move away from conflict that prevented the board from getting things done.
Since 2021, two board members have used homophobic and transphobic language while arguing against new anti-discrimination rules. The board also canceled a contract with the American Red Cross due to a right-wing conspiracy theory around illegal immigration. Tensions came to a head last year after Oley residents accused school board members of meeting in private to discuss filling school board vacancies.
However, over the past year, the most extreme members have either resigned, declined to run for another term, or been removed from the ballot.
Christina Moyer, who was censured by the school board for having Nazi symbols and language on her garage door, did not submit nomination petitions. Maria Bogdanova-Peifer, who stoked fear over the district’s curriculum and pushed back on following federal laws prohibiting discrimination, was removed from the ballot for not submitting financial statement information.
Six candidates are running for four seats that come with four-year terms. Two of these candidates secured both Democratic and Republican nominations during the primary, a typical maneuver in Pennsylvania school board elections.
Two other seats are only for two years, because members left before completing their terms. Four candidates seek those seats, including two people who are also on the ballot for the longer terms.
Most members of the board are Republicans. At most, Democrats could end up with four seats on the board, which would not flip it blue. The newly elected board will meet for a “reorganizational meeting” and select those who will serve in leadership positions and the board’s various committees.
The Berks County school district covers some 13,000 people in the wealthy, majority-white community. Nearly 90% of residents own their homes, and the median household income is about $130,000. Oley Valley, which approved a nearly $40 million budget for the 2025-26 school year, educates roughly 1,500 students.
What does a school board member do?
School board members oversee their respective school districts, adopting and managing budgets and instruction plans, levying local taxes, and hiring staff, including a district superintendent to run day-to-day operations. They do not get paid.
School board elections often help political hopefuls get their start in politics. A school district’s overall mission and strategy are dependent on school board members.
Districts across the commonwealth face financial challenges due to Pennsylvania lawmakers’ continued failure to pass a budget, coupled with uncertainty on the federal level as President Donald Trump seeks to dismantle the Department of Education. Federal funding for some special education programs is up in the air, and Pennsylvania schools must contend with rising cyber charter tuition, along with other costs.
The Oley Valley School District is no different, said the school board candidates. Nearly all of the contenders for office who spoke with Spotlight PA said ensuring adequate revenue sources in the face of budget constraints is a top priority.
The Oley Valley district must also contend with renegotiating educator contracts amid statewide teacher shortages.
Four-year term candidates
Jeff Boyd, Republican
No website
Boyd declined to participate in Spotlight PA’s guide. He is an attorney in Boyertown.
Donald Haas, Democrat
No website
Haas is a 44-year-old branch manager at Bogia Engineering Inc. and a licensed landscape architect. He has a child in Oley Valley schools.
He said he wanted to give back to the community by serving on the school board and helping cool contention among board members.
“There has been a lot of contentious activity at the school board meetings, and my goal would be to tamper that down and make school board meetings boring again,” Haas said. “They are there to run the business of the school, and the school board should not be newsworthy.”
Instead, Haas wants to spend time celebrating the accomplishments and achievements of students. He also stressed the importance of a balanced budget and a renewed focus on the safety and welfare of students.
Because of his job, he understands how public and municipal meetings work and the legal requirements of board members. He said he’s handled $100 million construction projects and is “willing to dig through the nitty-gritty details” of budgets.
“I’ve always been a big supporter of education and have worked with my own child to instill an ethic of ‘never stop learning,’” he said. “I want to bring those skills and that attention to the district.”
Haas said he’d like to improve the district’s commercial base by creating an economic development foundation to bring more business to Oley Valley, similar to the work done through Building a Better Boyertown and Pottstown Area Economic Development. He serves on the executive committee for the Pennsylvania-Delaware chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects and has a Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional certification.
“One of my goals is to engage the youth in the community to volunteer and work together,” Haas said.
Andrew Kline, Republican incumbent
Kline is a municipal traffic engineer. His mother, Jodie Kline, will also appear on the November ballot. He was appointed to the Oley Valley school board in November to fill one of the vacancies left by Sharon Kershner and former Vice President Aaron Keller.
(Kershner resigned in October and died two weeks later. Keller resigned for personal reasons.)
Kline, a 23-year-old who graduated from Oley Valley High School in 2020, said he may be an “atypical candidate” because of his age, but feels his experiences have prepared him to continue to serve the community.
He said he has been involved with Villanova University’s Board of Trustees and Friedens UCC Oley, and previously served for two years as a student representative in Oley schools, attending over 300 school board meetings. Kline is also involved in the Oley Fair and youth sports.
“With all of those combined experiences, I have learned about leadership, fiscal responsibility, governing documents and policies, and most importantly, the needs of my community,” he said.
Kline told Spotlight PA he has a “unique perspective” because he’s the only current board member and candidate who recently attended an Oley Valley school. His firsthand experience in the district gives him the ability to make “educated assessments of their performance and effectiveness,” he argued.
He said the school district’s budget is one of its top issues, arguing “unfunded mandates” at the state and federal levels create additional challenges.
Those issues range in impact, he said, but “often generate additional expenditures for the district to manage in addition to our operational and staff costs that are core to our mission of educating the next generation.” The core missions include ensuring the most qualified educators are teaching the latest information, he said, which will be complicated by a shrinking pool of applicants.
Jodie Kline, Democrat
No website
Kline is an elementary school teacher in the Twin Valley School District and a former Oley Valley school board member. She said she is running to ensure the district remains the best in the county. She is the mother of Andrew Kline, a current board member running in November.
The 50-year-old Jodie Kline believes in public education and wants to keep the “small-school feel of our district while still offering our students the very best total educational experience around.”
She said the biggest challenges facing Oley Valley are financial. Kline said she wants to keep taxes low, but argued it’s important to raise them by small amounts when necessary to maintain a top-notch education. The other challenge is finding the resources and staff to address mental health issues affecting students, she said.
Kline holds a bachelor’s degree in education and master's degrees in urban education and instructional technology. She has been teaching in public schools for 27 years. That work included writing and implementing individualized education programs, discipline plans, instruction, and curriculum. Kline said she’s served on interview committees to hire teachers, principals, and a superintendent. She also helped negotiate contracts where she works.
“I have worked my entire life in public schools. I know how schools work, what is needed, and what is wasted,” she said. “I have worked my entire life and career putting students first. I plan to continue doing that as a member of the school board while still keeping the values and interests of the community and teachers in mind.”
Darrell Markley, Democrat
No website
Markley is a retired high school principal. A past Oley Valley school board member, he said he is running again to infuse the governing body with decades of education experience.
Markley previously interviewed for a school board seat in November, but was not appointed. Community members encouraged him to run, he said.
“The current school board has four members who are not elected from the community, and also, there are no individuals on the board who have any educational experience whatsoever,” he told Spotlight PA in a recent phone interview.
If elected, Markley said he could impart his educational knowledge and background to board members.
The 67-year-old retired educator worked in the field for 45 years, and said while Oley Valley’s finances are important to address, top of mind for him are student and teacher safety.
“In my mind, that has to be the initial response from the board to make sure that everyone can come through the front door every day and feel comfortable enough to do their jobs and to leave at night and go home and feel safe,” he said.
Markley said his biggest concern is ensuring the same programs, like athletics, agriculture, or advanced placement classes, are available to future students.
“We have to figure out ways to keep the programs that keep our students successful,” he said. “That's the key, and that's what's not being talked about.”
Zachary Moore, Republican incumbent
Moore is self-employed in logistics and real estate. He was appointed to a vacant seat on the Oley Valley school board last year amid internal disagreements on the elected board. He said the November race is a “critical election” for voters.
The 40-year-old said that in the year since he’s taken office, the board has overcome the animosity both “internally and externally” to “finally get to a point that we are productive and really looking out for the best interest of the district.”
Moore said he aims to continue the work he’s done.
“It feels like we’ve made considerable progress since my appointment to the board,” he said. “My goal is to maintain that progress and execute on some of the plans that we are working on as a school board.”
The district is facing a “significant deficit” in its three-year projections, Moore said, which is the “No. 1” issue board members will have to solve.
District budget presentations describe how, from 2013 to 2024, Oley Valley used a combination of its fund balance and small tax increases to close deficits and balance budgets. In 2026-27, the school district projects the deficit will be $2.6 million. And by the 2027-28 school year, Oley won’t be able to use its fund balance to cover a projected $3.9 million deficit and still maintain the required 4% minimum fund balance.
The district is also poised to negotiate a new contract with educators, which will also impact Oley Valley’s financial position, Moore said. School boards must also keep in mind the effect that any changes at the federal Department of Education may have on local districts, he added. The district’s 2025-26 approved budget anticipates a 20% decrease in federal funding. It also raises taxes by 3.2%.
However, like many school districts in Berks County and across the commonwealth, Oley Valley’s is primarily funded by local property taxes, followed by 30% from the state, and a mere 1.2% from the federal government.
To keep taxes as low as possible — while also maintaining farmland and “relatively low population density,” a priority for residents — Moore said the district should explore alternative funding sources like grants.
Two-year term candidates
Andrew Kline, Republican incumbent
Kline is running for both a two-year term and a four-year term.
If he wins both seats, he would have to decline one of them, according to the Berks County Office of Election Services. After the election, the newly elected school board would hold interviews to appoint board members to any vacancies.
Jodie Kline, Democrat
No website
Kline is running for both a two-year term and a four-year term.
If she wins both seats, she would have to decline one of them, according to the Berks County Office of Election Services. After the election, the newly elected school board would hold interviews to appoint board members to any vacancies.
Gary Wegman, Democrat
No website
Wegman is a dentist and local vineyard owner. He said he recognizes the need to keep “politics out of the Oley school district boardroom.”
“Given the performance of American students in general in our core curricula evaluations, we cannot afford to be divided in our mission,” he said. “Our students need our leadership, by example.”
Wegman, 68, said he has served on the Pennsylvania Dental Association Council on Government Affairs, the Reading Redevelopment Authority, and the Berks Career & Technology Center dental occupations advisory committee, and has chaired the Reading Parking Authority. He has owned the Wegman Dental Group for 42 years, and owned and operated Pagoda Hill Vineyards for 25 years.
The district must be properly “staffed and equipped” to prepare students for the next generation of jobs in the medical field, artificial intelligence, and energy, Wegman said. He said he plans to engage with the career and technology center on these issues, while also building strong relationships with state leaders to secure adequate funding.
“I understand how hard it is to start, direct, lead, and run a successful business,” Wegman said, adding that the school board is a business position. “It takes persistence, staying power, and all the experience I have learned throughout my lifetime, which I will bring to the Oley Valley School District boardroom.”
Brian Weidner, Republican
Weidner did not respond to Spotlight PA’s request to participate in this guide. He is a graduate of Oley Valley schools and works at Brook Ledge Horse Transportation, according to his Facebook page.