Editorial... $5,000 isn't enough

The Sisters School District bumps along from financial crisis to financial crisis and its patrons wonder why.

The answer is simple: Funding at $5,000 per student doesn't cover increasing expenses. A district like Sisters, with relatively steady enrollment from year to year, is doomed to fall behind as costs -- salaries, fuel, maintenance -- go up.

That means laying off teachers, cutting back programs, providing fewer educational opportunities for current students than for those who came before.

There are some who say "it's not my problem." They are wrong. Education is an investment that benefits everyone in our society:

¥ Well-educated citizens are more productive, which will be very important when it comes time to pay Social Security benefits for aging baby boomers.

¥ Well-educated citizens have more opportunities -- important in a country where low-skill, low-cost jobs are going overseas.

¥ A society that doesn't provide opportunity will provide entitlements, which leads to social and economic instability.

Education is expensive. But every dollar spent on education comes back -- in increased productivity and in dollars not spent on welfare and prisons.

We need to bite the bullet, quit pretending that schools can just "be more efficient," or "do more with less." Districts like Sisters have been doing an awful lot with too little for too long. -- J.C. & E.D.