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38 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, January 27, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 31, 2004 Officials say closures are no easy matter By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune When a school district has to decide whether to close a small rural school, it must make a careful analysis of all the costs and benefits, and keep the process open to allow people to be heard. So say officials at two Southern Oregon school districts that have faced such decisions in recent years. Three Rivers School District in Josephine County closed elementary schools in Selma and Merlin in 2000. In 2001, Rogue River School District considered closing Evans Valley Elementary, but decided the move wouldn’t be cost effective. Dave Toler, now chairman of the Three Rivers board, opposed the closures. He felt that the district rushed the decision in Selma, where the school was a community hub, and ultimately didn’t realize the cost-savings it hoped to. "When you’re doing things that have social costs, you want to have good reasons," he said. Advertisement Toler said the district hoped to save about $150,000 a year by sending Selma students to Evergreen Elementary in Cave Junction. However, he estimates the annual savings were only $50,000 to $60,000. The savings were smaller than anticipated because about 10 percent of Selma students, 15 of them, left the district rather than make the move and the district also lost some funding the state provides for remote schools, he said. "If it’s going to be for financial reasons, they need to count all the beans to show all the costs and benefits," he said. "The district needs to show all the trade-offs in a real analysis and make sure it’s an open process so people are heard." Trayce Geddes, a Rogue River School District board member, agrees that it’s important to consider costs. "You have to determine what savings is worth the upheaval," she said. The district proposed closing Evans Valley Elementary in 2001 to save about $120,000, she said. But shifting students would have required expensive additions of classrooms and bathrooms at Rogue River Elementary, eating away any savings. Geddes credited site councils at the schools for studying consolidation plans. They provided accurate information for the board. Community involvement also was important. "It’s different when the school is a community center," she said. "Wimer really has ownership of that school." Geddes now is part of the Vision Committee, a group of parents, teachers, administrators, business owners and other community members formed in the wake of the closure debate to support the Rogue River schools. The group works with Realtors to attract families to the area and promote school events and programs. By the numbers: $909,675 to run a school Ruch Elementary School has a budget of about $909,675 this year. Salaries and benefits make up the bulk of expenses. Preliminary estimates show the Medford School District theoretically could have saved $389,000 this year if the school were closed. Officials promised they won't close the school mid-year, even if they decide closure would benefit the district. The district estimates it will need an additional $6.5 million in the next school year to maintain services in the face of rising health insurance, salary, pension and utility costs. Faltering state funding could result in a drop of $2 million to $4 million for the district in the 2005-07 said, Galen Anderson, district finance director. Anderson said the district is still fine-tuning the savings estimates related to a Ruch closure. The Medford district doesn’t qualify for state funding for remote schools that Three Rivers School District does, he said. The state provides the district with about $4,896 per student each year. The district's finance department calculated that educating a student at Ruch costs about $6,400 per year. Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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