Is Lake Oswego Really on Top?

 The Lake Oswego School District is ranked 4th in terms of best public high schools in the state of Oregon. The district has incredible scores in terms of math and reading proficiency, and excels at college readiness. Yet, the school is barely up to par in the less measurable indexes. Other state high schools are offering a plethora of enriching and applicable professional-technical classes: programming, photography, webpage design, game design, 3D graphical rendering, robotics, auto shop, and so much more. Lake Oswego is falling behind in offering students a complete education.

Lake Oswego has one of the most gifted and talented communities in the state. It’s startling that we’re barely able to keep up in metrics beyond test scores. Instead of addressing these deficiencies, Lake Oswego is exhausting it’s resources in the name of ‘college preparation’. Education is becoming secondary to meeting credit and test requirements in order to satisfy college criteria. The obstacles to implementing supplemental programs aren’t insurmountable. Budget constraints, CORE / state standard graduation requirements, and the school’s bureaucracy can be worked with to make pro-tech training a reality. 
  
When Measure 5 was passed the staff at the time had to focus on what the city wanted most; to focus on college preparation. The bulk of students at Lake Oswego (91%) will go on to acquire a college degree. With drastic cuts in budgeting and restraints on staff, any class unnecessary for college was axed. Valuable extracurricular classes were phased out in a program called “Natural Change”. The top priority for the school at the time was to keep as much of the staff as possible, so classes were naturally cut as teachers retired. This meant that many classes were haphazardly ‘downsized’ and oftentimes lead to teachers teaching outside of their preferred specialization.  

In addition to this, the structure of our federal education system leaves the school on a short leash. CORE testing is a set of standardized tests that was born out of the No Child Left Behind Policies of 2001, and uses these tests to determine funding; based on the improvement in how many students pass the test. The district has to obsess over these scores in order to scrape for already scarce funding. This is problematic because when 95%-97% of students already pass the test, it leaves little room for improvement. 

Despite the school’s lack of leeway in their budget, funding for these valuable classes could be derived from a host of other sources. One possible source would be STEM funding for science and technology oriented classes--a federal program that advocates for education in these areas. Another feasible option would be to reach out to Lake Oswego’s generous community. If enough awareness is raised for professional-technical training, this could directly translate into funding. Nonetheless, Lake Oswego has the resources to offer a fully-fledged vocational regimen. As we move forward we can overcome these hurdles, and invest in a rich and comprehensive education system for the future.

 

Implications of Measure 5

Ballot Measure 5 was one of the most contentious measures in Oregon election history. In 1990 the measure amended the Oregon Constitution and established limits on Oregon’s property taxes on real estate.

The results were disastrous for the school district. The measure limited the total amount of taxes that can be assessed per $1,000 of properties’ real market value. It established the limit at $15, and gradually lowered it to $5 over the course of six years.

A drastic reduction in the district’s resources soon followed; totalling more than 6 million annually. These numbers pencil out to a loss of nearly a quarter of the district’s property taxes, and approximately 18% of the district’s total funding in the 1990s.

The school had to respond with large cuts to every area of service. Most school programs had to be completely restructured: Fees were levied for participation in out of school activities/electives, the student to teacher ratio was increased, and professional-technical programs were axed.

The budget shortfall resulted in the elimination of nearly every vocational program the high school offered. For the past two decades Lake Oswego has had a deficit in programs that teach applicable day-to-day skills that are immensely beneficial in college and beyond.

Some past programs included:

• Metal and wood shop programs
• Technology classes
• Building construction programs
• Computer drafting programs
• Summer school programs
• Writing and math labs
• Auto shop programs
• Home economic

Our vision is to inform the community, and enable the school district to once more offer professional-technical training. Students need to be taught skills applicable in the modern workforce. Programming, Applied Sociology, Business Apprenticeship, and so much more could be offered to students. Nearly every staff member and student agrees that such programs would be invaluable to developing a complete education--it’s time to act on it.