View Content #198
| Contentid | 198 |
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| Content Type | 1 |
| Title | Lost school days hard to accept |
| Body | May 24, 2003 Lost school days hard to accept By Sam Dillon The New York Times HILLSBORO - This affluent Portland suburb shut down its schools for the summer three weeks early on Friday, becoming the first of 90 Oregon school districts to close ahead of schedule this year due to lack of funds. The early closing here left parents scrambling for emergency child care, some teachers seeking temporary jobs and at least a few students believing they were shortchanged. ``I feel kind of cheated,'' said Chris Pitts, a graduating senior who took his last English final, bought a yearbook and bade farewell to teachers at Glencoe High School here on Friday. ``I'm not going to be as prepared for college as I should be.'' Across the nation, schools have been struggling with budget cuts forced by the loss of tax revenues because of a sluggish economy, and thousands of districts have laid off janitors, canceled school plays or shut down libraries. But only in Oregon, where there is no sales tax to compensate for declining state income tax revenues, has the economic situation caused such havoc that 90 of the state's 198 districts have cut days from the school year. Joseph Rodriguez, the Hillsboro superintendent, said that each school day in this district costs $400,000, about 87 percent of which goes to pay salaries. After the Legislature cut 10 percent of state school aid, Hillsboro's financial shortfall forced him to recommend that the local school board cut 17 days from the calendar, about 15 of which were instructional days. ``We made the best decisions we could, given very poor resources,'' he said. ``The people of Hillsboro have every right to be upset. I certainly am.'' Teachers have been forced to make compromises. For example, John Gibbs, a high school science teacher, said that the shortened schedule allowed him to discuss the solar system in his astronomy course, but neither the stars nor the evolution of the universe. But only a few students seemed upset by the premature onset of summer. ``Yaaaaaay!'' shouted Justin Flock, a 7-year-old at North Plains Elementary School. ``Sometimes the math they do in school is kind of hard, and now I won't have to get up early in the morning.'' Justin's mother, Jamie Flock, the manager of a flower nursery who volunteers at her son's school each Wednesday by grading spelling tests, rushed to qualify his views. ``He's a typical little boy with better things to do than go to school,'' Flock said. ``But the rest of us think this is really a shame because the students needed the time in class.'' Nowhere but in Oregon has the school calendar been so disrupted, but a majority of the nation's 15,000 public school districts are facing financial difficulties of varying severity, said Dan Fuller, a lobbyist in Washington for the National School Boards Association. He estimated the 50 states' combined budget deficits at $52 billion to $82 billion. ``Those deficits are putting enormous pressure on school boards,'' he said, adding that many local board members have been calling the association's office in Alexandria, Va., about federal help. ``They're asking, `How can I talk to my congressman so they'll understand our problem?' '' But some national experts said unions and other special interest groups were exaggerating the financial crisis of the nation's schools, as well as the consequences of shutting some schools early. ``The sky is not falling,'' said James Guthrie, a professor of public policy at Vanderbilt University. ``As a nation we've lengthened the school year, and nobody can see that achievement has gone up. Twenty years ago the school year was, on average, 170 days long and now it has risen to 180 days. But I haven't seen any startling increases in student achievement in that period.'' Oregon law permits local districts to apply for waivers from minimum classroom instruction requirements, which are measured in hours and vary by grade level but are roughly equivalent to 175 days. In most states, laws require a minimum of 180 instru |
| Source | Sam Dillon, The New York Times |
| Inputdate | 2003-05-28 00:20:00 |
| Lastmodifieddate | 2003-05-28 00:20:00 |
| Expdate | Not set |
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| Active | 1 |
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