Council Candidate Mark Wolfe Makes Education Top Priority

Mark Wolfe, who has been a member of the city council since 2008, is hoping to get re-elected May 1. His top priority? Education.

Wolfe, a 22-year resident of the city, has said that without decent schools, new businesses and new residents will not be attracted to the area. This will affect home sales and ultimately taxes.

"With low achievement scores, families with choice will choose not to move to a community. And employers will follow suit. The result becomes stagnation in property values and a loss of non-residential tax revenue. This leads to ever rising property taxes and a decline in quality of life and government services, the death spiral of a community," Wolfe, who owns and operates a Manassas-based company, wrote in a letter to InsideNova.com. "We must stop this from happening and we can."

Wolfe was instrumental in bringing the issue of the city's lagging schools to the forefront by helping form the, which consists of three council members (Mark Wolfe, Andrew Harrover and Sheryl Bass) and three school board members (Pam Sebesky, Vice Chair Arthur Bushnell and Tim Demeria). 

The committee was formed to address and the

"The school board is responsible for the management of our schools. But as councilman I have taken the lead," Wolfe wrote. "I pushed for the creation of the Education Forward committee that is working to identify ." 

These ideas will further be

The committee held its first meeting one year ago, and during the current budget process, recommended.  Students would normally pay about $300-$400 to take about four AP tests. Wolfe also supported Manassas Next 2.0 that funded math and robotics curriculum. 

Wolfe has previously served on the Manassas Business Council, Board of Zoning Appeals and Board of Equalization. He currently serves as chairman for the Prince William County Arts Council and as volunteer executive director for the , a position that has raised questions about how the city funds non-profits and the arts.  The local ballet receives monetary contribution from the city, including $18,000 in the proposed city council's FY 2013 budget.