Local option protects Sisters schools

Last updated Feb 24, 2009 12:0pm0

The next two years are going to be tough ones for the Sisters School District.

Those who think the district needs to tighten its belt like everybody else will soon see that belt cinched up tighter and tighter as state funding falls off and enrollment declines.

The district has already taken a $100,000 cut; before the year is out, it is expecting to grapple with another $300,000 or greater cut. Next year is going to be worse. The State of Oregon is not going to be able to protect schools from the severe recession that has struck the global economy.

But the Sisters community can protect our schools and keep a financial crisis from becoming a financial disaster - by continuing the local option levy that provides about $1.1 million in local funding to local schools.

We're looking at losing programs, teachers or school days this year and/or next. Governor Kulongoski is calling on teachers to take pay cuts to help stave off program cuts and we may need to ask teachers and administrators in Sisters to do just that.

But if we add $1 million to the shortfall by not renewing local option, we'll be making cuts that go deep into muscle and bone.

Some opponents of local option say that they want to send a message to the school district that they are unhappy about its management. Or they think that public education in general is wasteful and needs to be cut back.

Failing to renew local option is the wrong way to "send a message." It punishes students for sins they did not commit. Opponents can lobby Salem for changes to public education and can take on the local school board directly if they want to change the way the district is run. They can vote school board members out at the next election - or even run for election themselves if they want to make changes.

Local option dollars support a better education for all Sisters public school students.

Local option has allowed the schools to add advanced placement programs and foreign language classes that are essential to students aspiring to top universities and colleges. It has also allowed the district to provide work in technology fields; award-winning art and music programs; character-building environmental education and athletic programs.

The schools offer invaluable real-world experiences, like framing a house to be donated to a family in need.

The Sisters community has a tendency to oversell the "excellence" of our schools. Some truly outstanding teaching and learning happens in Sisters classrooms, but the fact is that the Sisters School District has had to struggle to provide a solid education for a wide range of students. Local option has made success in that struggle possible.

That solid education is in danger now even with local option funds in place. Without it, we'll have to settle for mediocre and the past eight years we have put in supporting local schools could be washed out.

Local option is a modest investment - for most of us, less than a dollar a day. In these brutal economic times, less than a buck a day makes the difference between good and mediocre.

It's a smart investment and one we need to keep making. It is not a new tax, it is a renewal. It does not increase our tax burden, it allows us to continue to shoulder a responsibility the community has shared for eight years at small cost and great benefit.