Behind the anger that can sometimes surround a school board race, there is fear. Deep seated biological imperatives drive us to seek the best for our children. Any perceived threat to that can motivate a parent’s primal self in a hurry.
And there will always be perceived threats, the human condition being what it is.
Now, add some representative democracy to that primordial brew and you have some idea of the boil-over that’s been this year’s race for Corvallis School Board position #1. But then, a boil doesn’t make for cleareyed mindful decision making.
We’d like to offer something more reflective. Something for after the polls close. An analysis not guided by the election but informed by the lessons that have arisen from it.
And spoiler-alert: after calmly taking in the realties of where our school district finds itself, one can see a growing broad consensus among parents for what they would like to see happen next. It’s a consensus that cuts across socio-economic lines and political leanings, and we strongly suggest that district officials become guided by what appears to be a solidifying community agreement.
First, where the school district finds itself
By little or no fault of its own, enrollments are dropping at district schools. The decline is largely because of decreasing birth rates nationally. Birth rates have fallen especially hard locally. The State School Fund mostly allocates dollars on a per-student basis, which means reduced budgets for Corvallis Schools.
There has been some discussion that housing costs may be dissuading younger families from living in the district. There is also some anecdotal discussion that the district could be losing a small amount of enrollment to private schools. But even if these circumstances were causal and reversed, declining birth rates would continue to drive lower enrollment with little abatement.
No school district can do much about birth rates or housing.
Privately, district insiders are saying there will be school closures – that a plan could come as early as late summer or early fall. We assume there will be a robust public comment process once the draft plan is issued. Closing campuses would stem some inevitable staff and program reductions. The district is holding a Community Meeting on May 28 that is dubbed as long range facilities plan and data review. This public meeting was only announced today, we don’t yet have an agenda for it.
But no matter what, the Corvallis district will become smaller. It won’t have as many employees, and it may not have as many offerings as a larger district would.
Across employee groups – classified, certified and administrative – Corvallis Schools on average pay a little more than comparable districts in the state. But they are nowhere close to paying the average wages that the state’s highest paying districts pay. Corvallis is far closer to the state’s middling pay averages. Given local housing costs, the district seeks to offer competitive wages. We would suggest they may also want to consider employee housing assistance programs as well.
Superintendents at both Corvallis and Albany have made over $200,000 yearly these last three years – with Corvallis paying roughly $10,000 to $15,000 more than Albany does per year. Corvallis sized districts can sometimes be seen as a steppingstone to a larger district for a superintendent, Ryan Noss has been in the role for almost nine years. That stability can prove useful for a district.
Academic achievement continues to be a struggle statewide. District officials will quickly point out that Corvallis Schools exceed the state’s averages. In the last two years, 3rd grade reading at Corvallis Schools is up by 13%. Students meeting 3rd grade standards are now up to 51%, and that is 11% higher than the state’s per student average. 8th grade math is up 6% with a 42% average which is 15% higher than the state average of 27%.
In general, parents are not impressed with these numbers. They laud the improvement but believe they should still be far better than they are at present. There is also a longstanding perception among parents that the district is excellent for the mainstream of students. But there is also the perception that the district needs to improve its supports for students that need to be brought to the average and that it needs to offer more opportunities to students ready to excel past the average. These perceptions are broadly held.
We see Corvallis parents throughout the political spectrum agreeing that the district needs to beef up its academic performance. Including support for kids above or below the average. There is a growing contingent that sees the district touting comparisons with state averages as dismissive of their concerns.
As full disclosure, we have endorsed reelecting Sami Al-Abdrabbuh. In that endorsement, we advocate for the Board to become more activist with administrators in the coming term, and to push for the academic achievement local parents are seeking.
To read our School Board endorsement and see a video of the candidates debate in the race, click here.
Completely unrelated, vaccine vex
Today, we ran a story reporting that 9.7% of kindergartners in the state have received non-medical exemptions from Oregon’s school vaccination requirements. It’s a new state record. Last year it was 8.8%, which foisted our cute little state to fourth in the nation for unvaccinated kindergartners.
Oregon is one of only 15 states that allow parents to decline required vaccines based on non-religious personal beliefs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
We think the non-religious personal beliefs exemption should be eliminated. We’ll live with the religious one, but only barely… for the moment.
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