The central cause of our schools' budget crisis is a reduced level of funding from the state. In 2003-2005 biennium, education received 44.8% of the General Fund. In the 2009-2011 biennium, that percentage has been reduced to 38.8%. Contact your state representative and state senator and make your opinion known!
State Representative
Rep. Andy Olson (R)
District: 015
900 Court Street, N.E.
Suite H-478
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: (503) 986-1415
WebSite: http://www.leg.state.or.us/olson
E-Mail: rep.andyolson@state.or.us
State Senator
Sen. Frank Morse (R)
District: 008
900 Court Street NE
Suite S-311
Salem, OR 97301-4068
Phone: (503) 986-1708
Fax: (503) 986-1058
WebSite: http://www.leg.state.or.us/morse/
E-Mail: sen.frankmorse@state.or.us
So, I tried to make this point at one of the school meetings, but the 4 DAY week is a ridiculous idea.
ReplyDeletethe board will save $700,000 per year.
There are 9,000 students in the district which = $77.77 per annum. Or to put it another way:
$1.50 PER WEEK PER STUDENT!!!!!
Now compare that to the cost of Day Care for that extra day.
Say $40 per day, perhaps only 30% of the kinds actually need day care, 3000 students.
40 * 3000 = $120000 per week
X 36 weeks
= $4.3 million
If the number needing day care is closer to 50% then that is enough to cover the budget shortfall.
SCHOOL IS NOT DAYCARE... it is much more, and given the choice, I would rather pay to keep the schools open than pay for DAY CARE
It isn't really true that parents would have to find 36 more days of daycare- look at our current calendar. On a 4-day week similar to Central Linn, we would have 10-11 less days of school than we did last year. Also, we wouldn't have early release/ late start days, which cost parents money in childcare costs. Our kids would be in school the same number of hours per year, and more of those hours would be actual instruction time. The half-hour a day added would be actual learning time instead of transition time (getting ready to leave, going to and from pullouts, lunch, recess). The four-day week will be easier for some parents cost-wise, and harder for others. The district will still off the CAPS program, and the Boys and Girls Club has their after school program as well. Scholarships are available for both programs.
ReplyDeleteIdeally, I would like my kids to actually go to school five days a week every week, but that's not the situation we're in.
You should strongly consider contacting the Albany Schools Foundation and spearhead fundraising to keep schools open. Perhaps you can raise the money to keep them open. Let us know, and we would be happy to help. Our group will be turning our attention to the state level shortly, and we would encourage everyone to contact our state legislators ASAP. Fieldtrip, anyone?
Gwen, not wanting to harp on about it, but as stated by the BOARD..... the $700,000 savings relate to the quid pro quo employment agreement, where ALL step increases are paid and a 5 day school week exists. If you based the boards savings off of this years calender, they would only save about $200,000, directly related to the 10 or 11 days of which you speak.
ReplyDeleteabout $0.42 per child per week.
Now I will grant you that there are a few weeks like next week (Presidents Day) where it is only a four day week anyway. However that does not change the fact that they would only be saving $1.50 per child per week throughout the year. A truly minuscule amount that I would rather pay out of pocket than have my three daughters loose a day of school for.
It is not a question of the cost involved for, or finding, adequate care. Its mainly that the cost involved is higher to do anything else, other than send them to school.
As a parent it just seams asinine to pay more money for a poorer quality service for my children.
I sorry but as I said, I don't want to harp on about it, I just hate the miss representation of fact that has been coming out of vague generalizations made by the school board at these meetings. They are not being dishonest and will clarify when pushed, but they are apt to give you a figure and let you assume what it relates too. Mainly I feel, because these are not accounting workshop sessions.
I am also definitely in favor of the field trip as I stated in my earlier post today.
Many thanks for your time and effort on all this, I just like to compare apples with apples, not Oranges.