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A broken system with refuge in reach |
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Written by Tara Miller
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 |
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As a senior at Grant High School, I have witnessed and suffered from the many consequences of inadequate and unstable funding for Oregon schools.
I have sat on white buckets or windows when my classrooms are so packed that there are not enough desks for every student. My friends have complained about inadequate help from the teacher of their AP Calculus class with 53 other students. I have witnessed confusion among the students I tutor at Beaumont Middle School where teachers hired in 2008 were laid off the next year due to insufficient funding.
Overall I have been very lucky. My experience at Grant has generally been very good. I have been lucky enough to have teachers and parents who are committed to pushing through the instability and uncertainty to educate students to the best of their ability and beyond.
But teachers and parents should not have to put forth this extraordinary effort in order to compensate for the instability of the system. If it were not for the large amount of money generated by the federal stimulus package and the passage of Measures 66 and 67, our schools would be even worse off than they are now. As it is, we are at the bursting point. It is time to raise the bar from the bare minimum.
The instability at Grant and throughout the district and state created by inadequate and unstable funding can be improved through kicker reform. Oregon already has, arguably, one of the most volatile tax systems in the country because of its heavy reliance on income taxes. The kicker only increases that volatility by making it difficult to create a rainy day fund, which would allow schools and other public services to maintain adequate funding even when the economy is down.
Oregon’s boom and bust cycle is especially detrimental to schools. Every year parents, teachers and students are threatened with the possibility of teacher cuts and fewer school days. This aura of uncertainty is a constant distraction for students, many of whom rely on school as the most stable and structured component of their lives. It makes it difficult for students to choose their schedules for the next year when they do not know what classes will still be available.
The student in the AP Calculus class with 53 other students, for instance, might have decided to take a different math class if she had known that she wouldn’t get the help she needs to learn the material. The sophomore might have decided to take philosophy instead of art if he knew that it wouldn’t be available his junior year.
We students look to the legislature for leadership and inspiration. Every year our legislators tell us that we are the future. That education is one of their top priorities. If that were true, legislators would be seizing this opportunity to improve our schools. Last week’s Op-Ed section of The Oregonian provided possible reasons for the Legislature’s failure to follow through with kicker reform: “Oregonians were exhausted by the fight over Measures 66 and 67. Business was too mad. Labor too tired. There was no money for a yes campaign.”
I believe that by using these excuses the legislature is setting a bad example for students throughout the state. It is time for our legislators to follow through with their promise and to show us that education really is a top priority
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