The Oregon Education Investment Board is holding a series of
seven community forums around Oregon
“to engage all stakeholders in a discussion around education funding.” The Portland area hearing was held Thursday evening (10/18/12)
at Marshall High School (now closed).
I mistakenly thought the hearing was to be a community forum
on the recently released recommendations of the Education Funding Team. I had
commented on those recommendations in two earlier blog posts (here, here). In
the second blog post, I objected to funding proposed “Student Achievement
Centers” (really teacher development and training centers) “until the training
and support of foreign language immersion teachers is made a priority.” So I was at this community forum with four of
my placards, including a new saying “Do Not Fund Teacher Training & Support
Until Training Foreign Language Immersion Teachers Is a Priority’ (see photo).
I stayed only for the first part of the hearing. I
know the teachers’ unions can turn out passionate and articulate teachers to
speak to their perceived need for additional educational funding. And they did,
with others in the audience clapping and cheering. I, too, think education needs more funding,
but only after some significant (to me) changes. In my time at this hearing, I
did not hear such changes discussed. So, the event seemed more of a rally than
a thoughtful hearing or discussion..
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