It sounds like every second-grader’s dream come true: Because of a massive budgetary shortfall, Oregon schools are looking at closing down early – some sacrificing days of schooling, others sacrificing weeks.
Unlike most other states, Oregon does not consciously protect education funding when dealing with budgetary shortfalls. This is in no small part related to the fact that we are facing a bill of $855 million. Also, unlike most states, Oregon has failed to create a “rainy day fund” (a large account kept on ice until a shortfall like this happens) until recently, and the amount gathered is not nearly enough to shepherd us through this crisis.
Despite protests and demonstrations, it is becoming increasingly likely that Oregon schools are going to face serious cutbacks. This is done under the current school of “umbrella cutbacks” where all state services, no matter how vital, are being slashed in order to take up the slack.
Currently, the plan to cut funding would result in the following, as reported by the Oregonian: “Public safety would lose $58 million. The state would delay hiring 39 troopers and reduce community corrections grants. … Natural resources agencies would lose about $12 million, with money scaled back for food safety, air quality and water storage studies. There also wouldn’t be any money to study the grasshopper infestation in eastern Oregon. The governor’s office would lose $350,000, including eliminating the people who staff the citizens’ phone hot line.”
Here’s where it gets weird.
Rather than having something as important as schools protected, or at least treated equally, schools are expected to take up more of the slack. Whereas other state services would face a 2.4-percent cut, education programs are looking at a full 3-percent cut.
This shapes up to cutting $300 from the $10,000 average spent per student in Oregon schools. This may not seem like a large price tag for a student, but when you realize most students are lucky if they have a single computer in their 30-plus-student classroom, losing $300 could be catastrophic.
The worst part is the half-hearted “solutions” offered by the state legislature. Gov. Ted Kulongoski suggested teachers take a page out of Portland’s book and work some days without pay, like they did in 2003, and he plans to as well. Well, thanks, Ted, that’s kind of you. Now, who was it that got us into this mess? Oh, it was you guys? In that case, it’s perfectly reasonable for our teachers to pay the price for the state’s mismanagement of our backup funding.
I understand this has shaped up into a sort of “economic perfect storm,” in that we have the combination of an already-short budget coupled with no backup funds and an economy in the toilet. But that’s not our schools’ fault, so why are we punishing them further? Why aren’t we raising the corporate tax, or lowering the administration pay rate because they’re the ones who failed to keep our budget managed? If anyone deserves to work without pay, it’s them.
Luckily, there is still time for another plan to arise, and not everyone in the Oregon Senate is dead-set on this current one. Sen. Bruce Starr (R-Hillsboro) has advocated using, rather than preserving, the Education Stability Fund, saying, “School districts that are responsibly budgeting and looking for places where they can save should be rewarded. If districts are willing to shoulder some of the responsibility for keeping classes meeting, the state should be doing everything we can to support them.” Those in favor of the current plan say we need to hold on to every cent in order to weather the trying times ahead.
Teaching without pay in 2003 obviously did not ensure that such a problem would not arise again. Forcing educators to teach without pay in 2009, when money is short not just for the state, but for everyone, is criminal. Education is too important an institution to be forced to take the brunt of a budgetary shortfall, especially if services are supposedly being treated equally.
[email protected]