Portland Parents

Looming in the shadows of the schools’ budget crisis is a threat to our kids’ happiness.

Hurray! The Multnomah County Income Tax expires next year! Of course, this money has been earmarked for our schools, and when that fund source dries up, we’re back to a deficit operation.

And Oregonian columnist Steve Duin brings to our attention the political equivalent of mindless violence; waiting in the wings to pounce on our school system.

I’m talking about the nefarious “First Class for Education Act.” It sounds all right when you read the title, doesn’t it? The premise of the bill is simple; restrict school districts to spending 65% of their budget on “classroom instruction.”

That seems pretty ok; we want our kids to get the best classroom instruction possible, and spending a solid majority of the available funds on that goal is admirable. The Sizemorian agenda, of course, is to shrink the administration and overhead of running the schools.

So what’s in this “classroom instruction?” Here’s what’s not …

It does not include the cost of heating the classroom, transporting students to it or providing cafeteria meals at lunchtime. It does not include guidance counselors, speech pathologists, information technology or building maintenance, some or all of which would be cut to move money into the “classroom.”

It does include sports, so your afternoon soccer is safe, but not guidance councellors or computers! It does not include music, which has been shown to have a strong correlation to math excellence!

And according to Standard & Poor’s analysts (see www.schoolmatters.com), this sixty-five percent rule doesn’t guarantee any sort of increased performance.

These people pushing for the “First Class for Education Act” want to lower the amount of money we can spend on building heat, music lessons, nutritional food, building maintenance, and yes, administration, without a solid plan for excellence.

What’re they thinking?

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf?/base/news/1137461120143790.xml&coll=7