During the pandemic, teachers and support staff were largely heralded. Not only did many of us get to experience having our children around all day long rather than having them at school, but in overheard conversations on computer screens, we saw the immense burden placed on educators who suddenly had to deliver lessons on video chat, corral students to come to "class" and turn on their video cameras, mentor said students via video chats and emails and so much more.
Families began to understand, in a new and nuanced way, the incredible influence and the big jobs that educators had on their plates. Even while some families opted to leave the public school system during the pandemic in order to see their kids in school in person sooner, the general consensus among many families was that educators were good and schools were vital. When the bargaining over teacher and classified staff salaries happened recently, some of those same ideas became tools to gain more financial support for a population of professionals who had already been through a lot, and continue to bear the brunt of the learning loss and behavioral challenges that came in the wake of the pandemic.
In 2022, when leaders at Bend-La Pine Schools shared their pitch for the passage of a $249.7 million general obligation bond to improve safety and modernize schools, we were frankly rather surprised at the ticket price. It's a giant sum, but hardly a mint for a district managing 33 schools. Taxpayers were already used to the taxes that would come with it; since it came just as other bonds were retiring, it did not increase the tax rate. They could have asked for more, we thought back then.
Now, in 2024, it should come as a shock to no one that after a round of bargaining with teachers and classified staff that saw them getting increased salaries, there would be a need for more money in the district.
You could call it a bit of public-relations hardball, but right now, BLPS is threatening to cut some 77 positions in the district due to budget constraints. We are already getting word of people whose positions are set to be cut or cut back. Perhaps not surprisingly, some of the positions we've been contacted about involve the arts — the so-called "optional" areas of study that always seem to go by the wayside when times get hard. But as the district states on its Learning Levy 2024 web page, those positions don't have to get cut as long as voters approve the levy.
Perhaps it's more of that PR-hardball that educators are getting those notices now, when they have time to appeal to the families whose students will be affected by the cuts, and who then have time to alert the local media about these threats to the status quo.
The money collected from the levy is aimed at maintaining class sizes, adding more career and technical education in high schools, improving support systems for struggling students, enhancing elective offerings in music, art, technology, business and world languages, and offering more advanced placement and international baccalaureate programs. These are not just "fluff" features of schools, and while reading, writing and math are still highly important, electives matter too, and help our kids compete among students nationwide who enjoy those offerings. For homeowners with an average-priced home, the levy would mean approximately $239 more on their property tax bills.
Regardless of the perceived cunning in announcing to educators that they'll be losing their jobs right before we all vote on a tax increase, we support the levy. We value public education before the pandemic shed more light on its importance, and we value it still today.
