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SUNNY Temp: 67 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Wednesday, June 18, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend May 26, 2003 Legislature gets an ‘F’ on education Local school board officials say laggard lawmakers have failed Oregon’s students badly By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune Legislators get a failing grade from Jackson County school board members smarting over Salem’s inability to resolve the problem of K-12 funding. "On the subject of education, I feel the legislators have been cutting class," said Craig Prewitt of the Phoenix-Talent School Board. Medford’s Peggy Penland expressed a similar sentiment: "If we were doing a report card, we’d say: ‘Needs to turn in homework. Needs to participate more in class.’ " Fred Thomas of Eagle Point went a step further in his assessment of legislators’ ability to solve the budget crisis. Advertisement "They’ve failed miserably," he said. "If the private sector had to run their business like schools run their business, everybody would be out of business. " School districts are looking at losing more teachers, cutting school days for the second year in a row and increasing class sizes in 2003-04. Democratic Rep. Alan Bates of Ashland said of his colleagues, "I can tell you what I’d give them. I’d give them an ‘F’ right across the board." House Democrats were ready to push through a $6 billion education bill last week by closing various tax loopholes but were thwarted by the Republican majority, Bates said. The motion to hear the package failed 30-24 Friday. Funding for education now hovers at $5 billion for the biennium as proposed by lawmakers in April. Legislators have been debating for 5½ months over what they are going to do for education and have little to show for it, said Bates. Republican Rep. Dennis Richardson of Central Point said it’s premature to judge the Legislature. "Don’t grade somebody in the middle of the semester before the final exam," he said. "Without the May 15 forecast, we didn’t have accurate data to forecast the budget." Legislators, frustrated by the ongoing economic slump, still must work to show that government is running efficiently and not wasting money, while trying to properly fund K-12, he said. "We’re like doctors who have been given a very sick patient," said Richardson. "If there isn’t surgery, no healing will take place." Republican Sen. Lenn Hannon of Ashland, frustrated by a lack of initiative in Salem but hoping that adequate funding for K-12 can be found, still holds out some hope. To date, however, no proposals have come forward from the House that would pay for schools. "It’s interesting our House colleagues say they want to help education but they don’t send us a funding measure," said Hannon. "I want to start the dialogue, but nobody’s talking." Meanwhile, school districts have been making some tough decisions because their budgets must be completed by June 30. Penland said Medford schools will begin budget hearings this week without a clear idea of revenues from Salem. A frequent visitor to Salem, Penland said she is getting tired of complaints that schools, which spend 80 percent or more on teachers, don’t put their money into classrooms. "If putting teachers into classrooms isn’t a good use of money, then I don’t know what is," she said. In Central Point, problems facing that school system and others throughout Oregon rival a recession in the ’70s, when there was an exodus of teachers from the state, said school board member Cindy Tilley-Faubion. Despite her disappointment over legislators’ inability to adequately fund education, Faubion reserved out-and-out condemnation because she realizes how difficult it is to do the public’s business. Still, for students in Central Point, it doesn’t set a good example to see their school system undermined because of inaction. "You try and give kids a good role model and a good example, and then they look at the Legislature and say, ‘huh,’ " she said. Like other districts, Eagle Point does appreciate the Legislature’s efforts to reduce the $16 billion debt in the Public Employees Retirement System. But Thomas said districts shouldn’t bank on any savings that they might get from PERS reforms. "It will probably get tied up in the courts for years, so school districts shouldn’t count on that money," he said. Prewitt said Phoenix-Talent schools anticipate cutting another 10 days out of the year directly because of insufficient funding from the state. But the district will be building its budget in the dark, unsure of how much funding it will receive from the state. "I’m so frustrated and irritated about the whole thing," he said. "The Legislature has shied away from their responsibility to fund schools." He challenged legislators and others to show how his district is top-heavy in administrators or has too many teachers, when it has been cutting back on both in recent years. "I honestly don’t think that Salem understands how bad a shape schools are in," he said. "Either that or they just choose to ignore us, or they have chosen schools as a sacrificial lamb to show how bad the state’s gotten to prove to taxpayers they really need help." Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Boards may consider asking their communities for help Hoping to save Jackson County’s education system from its downward spiral, school officials might appeal to the community to resolve their funding crisis. Peggy Penland, a Medford School Board member, said districts should band together and discuss ways to save all schools from further cuts. After the successful passage of a $130 million income tax initiative in Multnomah County last week, Penland said a similar type of levy should be looked at locally. While acknowledging it likely would be more difficult to pass in Jackson County, she said school boards can’t afford to wait any longer for a solution from Salem. "I’m encouraging the (Medford) board to look at something regionally," she said. In the past, Penland said the board has discussed levies as a possible means of raising more revenues to help offset the cuts to schools. However, the district also needs new facilities, and Penland said it would be difficult, if not impossible, to ask voters to pay for the building of a new middle school and then provide even more to prevent further cuts in teaching staff. Penland said Medford needs to work more closely with the county and city to better coordinate funding efforts. She cited the close relations between the city of Ashland and its schools and Multnomah County and its schools as examples of alliances that have proved beneficial. Cindy Tilley-Faubion, a Central Point board member, said levies and other options have been discussed before, but after a recent bond measure paid for new schools, it would be difficult to ask voters for more money. "You cannot ask people for more than what they have already given in the past few years," she said. "The reality is you can have new buildings ... but if the legislators aren’t going to give you a budget to work with, you are going to have empty classrooms." Faubion said she would, however, be willing to sit down with other school officials to discuss levies or other remedies for the current budget crisis. Craig Prewitt, a Phoenix-Talent School Board member, said that before the passage of Measure 5, there was great disparity in the kind of education you could receive throughout Oregon. "The equalization process has helped bring everybody down to the same level of inadequacy," he said. Although he would consider talking about a countywide tax or levy, Prewitt would prefer that Salem find a better solution. "We really need a more balanced structure of funding," he said. Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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