despite huge school cuts, small victories in salem
herald & news
Klamath Falls, OR September 23, 2009
Whatever victories for basic education that came in this year's session of the Oregon Legislature would have to fall into the "it could have been worse" category. Fewer teachers, fewer school days and bigger classes resulting fromthe recession made for a dismal session.
But there were a few victories - small, certainly, compared to the drop in expected state school revenue-but real.
Project Chalkboard, an organization funded by a number of organizations
including the Jeld-Wen Foundation, pointed out earlier this summer that two of its initiatives aimed at increasing the effectiveness of teachers
had been approved. That's notable in a session largely devoted to cuts because they cost something.
The programs:
- Mentoring new Oregon teachers.The Chalkboard organization worked
on legislators to approve spending $5.07 million the next two years for
mentors for beginning teachers and administrators. Chalkboard said that
nearly 40 percent of Oregon teachers leave the profession within five years at an annual cost of $45 million. "In contrast, 99 percent of mentored educators stay in the profession."
- Providing Web-based information on professional development. Because of budget cuts in professional development budgets, the Legislature
allocated $130,000 to establish a Webbased clearing house for "high-quality professional development programs." That was another Chalkboard initiative.
Both of those actions are aimed at improving classroom teaching and it's
likely that the mentoring could be a big help to new teachers dealing with
problems growing out of the budget cuts. In among the big losses in Salem this year, there were a few wins.
