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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us February 14, 2005 Debate over utility of ESDs leads to Senate bill By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings Although school and elected officials, as well as members of the public, feel something needs to be done to regulate education services districts at a state level, they say a bill in the Oregon Senate would reduce the number of ESDs from 21 to eight by 2007 is not the answer. Senate Bill 415 would create eight zones with comparable populations using school district boundaries and voting precincts while removing school districts with more than 10,000 students, such as Medford, from participation in ESDs. "You can't just look at the number of students you're serving," said Ashland Schools Superintendent Juli DiChiro. "You have to look at geography as well." The state-funded organizations support school districts with specific, usually high-cost programs such as special education needs, technology issues and specialized personnel. They receive 5 percent of the estimated $5.2 K-12 education budget. "Certainly, ESDs were created a number of years ago to sustain districts," said former Ashland Mayor Alan DeBoer, who has also been a school board member and advocates for an across-the-board closure of ESDs. "Most of that is completely obsolete today and if we truly want to make a difference in the state of Oregon's budget, we can't keep trimming. There are some things you just close." Some ESD combining has already occurred. Four years ago, Jackson County ESD merged with ESD offices Klamath and Josephine counties, eliminating overhead costs by creating Southern Oregon ESD. The new consolidation proposal would likely add Lake County to the Southern Oregon ESD. DiChiro hypothesized that a satellite office may have to be set up in the eastern region of the new ESD because of the staggering travel times from the Phoenix office to Lakeview. Similar issues would arise with an ESD in eastern Oregon because the entity would likely serve the majority of the state beyond the Cascade Mountains. "This would get rid of some administrative overhead to free up money for the classroom," said Sen. Alan Bates, D-Southern Oregon. "Remember that in some areas they've done a good job." However, specific ESDs have come under fire recently for misuse of funds. An office in eastern Oregon chartered a plane to travel to distant schools within its boundaries and a Portland-area ESD bought a $35,000 SUV, then sold it to its retiring superintendent for a fraction of the price, Bates said. "At some point, they're too broad-based," DeBoer said. "It's nothing against ESDs, but there's a certain point where too big becomes too bureaucratic." DeBoer believes better-funded school districts - which may receive that 5 percent chunk of the education budget if ESDs were closed - could handle the current duties of ESDs without the organizations. Still, both Bates and DiChiro continue to support some sort of school district-support program to handle special education needs and create a dialogue between school districts. "It brings into question how we fund education," Bates said. "In some areas, ESDs have really outlived their use, but we wouldn't want to see them completely eliminated." SB 415 is slated for community hearings in Salem to discuss the viability of the 21-to-eight reduction plan and other possible scenarios. Representatives from the Southern Oregon ESD did not return calls as of press time. Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Slippers Women's & Men's Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks heloc libor rate Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress afsa studentloans home equity loans teleconferencing W2 Forms fasa student loans Matchmaking & Dating Scripts African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems student loan consolidation wholesale diamonds Currancy Exchange web conferencing Online Casinos Community Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams