February 4, 2008
by Steve Rawley
I am planning to submit questionnaires to mayoral and city council candidates to see where they stand on the issues we all care about. I would love some input from the community on these. Here are a couple sample questions I came up with.
- City Auditor Gary Blackmer and Multnomah County Auditor Suzanne Flynn released a joint audit report in June of 2006 which found that Portland Public Schools’ transfer policy contributes to racial and socio-economic segregation and conflicts with other district goals such as strong neighborhood schools and investing in poorly performing schools. The report requested that the school board clarify the of the purpose of the transfer policy, but nearly two years later, they have not. As mayor or commissioner, will you do anything to hold the school district accountable to this audit?
- Portland Public Schools’ student transfer policy divests over $40 million annually from our poorest neighborhoods, leaving our most economically vulnerable citizens with gutted educational programs and a disproportionate number of school closures. This puts PPS policy at odds with city policy of strong, livable neighborhoods, with affordable housing near strong schools. As mayor or commissioner, how will you work with the PPS Board of Education to ensure their policies do not work at cross purposes with city policies?
And here’s one just for Sho Dozono:
- You started the Portland Schools Foundation to support schools, particularly those in lower-income areas, in the wake of Measure 5. Now, more than ten years later, the foundation is frequently criticized as part of the problem, not part of the solution. Is the foundation still relevant today, or should the district administer the equity fund in-house?
What else?
Steve Rawley published PPS Equity from 2008 to 2010, when he moved his family out of the district.
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February 3, 2008
by Steve Rawley
I attended the last Portland Public Schools “Celebrate!” event yesterday, and handed out leaflets (109KB PDF) drawing attention to the inequities that follow the open transfer policy. Fellow Neighborhood Schools Alliance member Terry Olson braved the absolutely miserable weather with me, and we handed out 500 fliers in the first two hours of the event.
If you think it’s a little odd for a school district to set up a shopping mall for their schools, you’re not alone. Several families I spoke with were virtually speechless. What’s even more appalling, once you scratch the surface, is that this showcase event exposes the startling inequities between our neighborhood schools. I spoke with parent Peter Campbell, who’s been trying to get the district to publish curriculum offerings for all elementary schools, to no avail. Even at an event like this, he discovered that it is virtually impossible to get accurate, consistent data.
This inconsistency is incredibly frustrating, and it is one of the ways PPS is shifting the true cost of its open transfer policy onto families. If the district really wanted to do this right, the real costs would include a standardized format for schools to publish their offerings, and full-time marketing staff at each school, so that administrative staff could focus on running their schools and educating our children. The real cost of doing this would be prohibitive, of course, and nobody wants to spend precious FTE budget on marketing. Yet without it, parents are not able to make informed choices.
Of course, it would be far less expensive — not to mention far more fair — to have a uniform core curriculum, including music, art and P.E., in all our schools.
I’m glad this is the last “Celebration” PPS will spend money on. The Oregonian reports that these events have typically cost $300,000 to put on. That’s easily enough to pay for the three FTE positions I’ve advocated to restore the music department in the Jefferson cluster.
Steve Rawley published PPS Equity from 2008 to 2010, when he moved his family out of the district.
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