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One of the most disheartening aspects of this discussion is that EVERY budget cut to schools is discussed out of context. My kids were in kindergarten when Measure 5 passed, which began the budget cuts to Oregon public education. Every year since, every budget year since, valuable programs, classes, teachers, funding have been cut. The media reports all of these as "...time to tighten education's belt in response to budget cuts..." When my son was in 1st grade his teacher was already buying most of her classroom supplies. By the time he was in high school (2003 he could not study music at Grant High. The schools are scapegoated for society's ills, consequently schools are not funded, schools are no longer teaching (which comes first the chicken or the egg.) By this time, there is NOTHING to cut from the public education budget. If we believe in public education, as I devoutly do, there has to be some way to reliably fund a full range of public education.

Our children need to read and write, understand the value of math and be able to do sums, and develop their minds, bodies and spirits with academics, sports and arts. Not only do the present budget cuts need to be reconsidered, but the state...the nation...needs to reexamine our future without the most robust public education system possible.

Oregon and the nation needs to identify public education as one of the, if not THE most important, state and national priorities and then give our children a chance to grow into the individuals and citizens they should be.

Please, reframe this discussion to include what education should be, and how it could be sustainably funded.

Pattie Hill, Portland

posted 2 years, 10 months ago
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