(a) Within thirty (30) days after a tax has been levied for the first time by an elected Board of Public Education in any school district of the first class A, taxpayers representing twenty-five per centum (25%) or more of the total valuation of real estate in the school district as assessed for taxation purposes or taxpayers of the school district not less than twenty-five (25) in number aggrieved by the ordinance or resolution shall have the right to appeal therefrom to the court of common pleas of the county upon giving bond with sufficient security in the amount of five hundred dollars ($500), approved by the court, to prosecute the appeal with effect and for the payment of costs. The petition shall set forth the objections to the tax and the facts in support of such objections and shall be accompanied by the affidavit of at least five (5) of the petitioners that the averments of the petition are true and the petition is not filed for the purpose of delay.

(b) No such appeal shall act as a supersedeas unless specifically allowed by the court to which the appeal is taken or a judge thereof.

(c) Immediately upon the filing of any such petition, the petitioners shall serve a copy of the petition and any rule granted by the court upon the president or secretary of the legislative body levying the tax.

(d) The court shall fix a day for a hearing not less than fifteen (15) days nor more than thirty (30) days after the filing of the petition. Notice of the time of such hearing shall be given to all interested parties as the court shall direct. The court shall promptly hear and dispose of the appeal.

(e) It shall be the duty of the court to declare the ordinance and the tax imposed thereby to be valid unless it concludes that the ordinance is unlawful; but the court shall not interfere with the reasonable discretion of the legislative body in selecting the subjects or fixing the rates of the tax. The court may declare invalid all or any portion of the ordinance or of the tax imposed or may reduce the rates of tax.

(f) Any party to the proceeding shall have the right to appeal from the decision of the court of common pleas to the Commonwealth Court as in other cases, but such appeal shall be taken within thirty (30) days from the time the decree of the court was entered and not thereafter. Any two (2) or more parties may join in such appeal.