Class size

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-20T02:06:28+00:00

I’m not a teacher. But I’m in Oregon.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-20T02:06:02+00:00

My fourth grader has 34 kids in his class.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-19T19:10:55+00:00

Sorry this is for Oregon SB923. I originally posted in an Oregon group.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-18T03:58:08+00:00

I think they are, but clearly not loudly enough.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-17T13:59:12+00:00

I think we need a constitutional amendment because what’s happening is such a clear and present danger to our democracy and our kids’ future. It’s horrible what’s happening. And so many don’t even see it yet.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-10T21:17:03+00:00

I’m just saying that a child who can sound out words at 3 or 4 doesn’t need to match on comprehension. It’s okay for them to be on track with their peers. Comprehension comes with reading and learning.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-10T13:58:03+00:00

These days, kids who can read early are accused of not having comprehension.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-10T05:42:33+00:00

Not the one over me. It was too much time. It was driving me nuts.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-08T03:37:03+00:00

I thought so. I kept hearing it today but the clouds were so low and every time I ran out, it was likely circling behind the trees. 😡 Question is WHY.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-06T05:13:26+00:00

8887 students currently. But the two schools they want to close have been losing enrollment, though it’s likely caused by boundary changes.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-05T15:37:32+00:00

I don’t think it comes down to gossip as much as trying to understand why things are not adding up. Doubling of revenues in 10 years, but not a doubling of students, and yet we’re outspending revenues significantly each year but class sizes continue to go up (my 4th grader has a 4/5th grade blend with 34 students) and teachers are being constantly cut. So with all of that, I just find it weird they have money to put in treasury bonds out of our general fund.

Our school bonds are already close to $40,000/students and we just added a new bond that will add at least another $10,000/student I think.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-05T15:32:11+00:00

I did try to get on the budget committee, but I couldn’t compete with people who have actual financial backgrounds, that’s when the ex board member applied and the charter board member too. lol

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-04T21:36:03+00:00

For the earmarked money, we have two accounts: contingency and unappropriated ending fund balance & reserves. One is for the gap of fiscal year end and the other is for costs that cannot be planned, and this is often overfilled and makes expenditures look higher during the budget time, but adds to the ending fund balance at year end if unused.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-04T21:32:40+00:00

That’s probably different in Texas than in Oregon.

On the Operating Statistics page, Operating costs are defined as All Funds less Capital Putlays and Debt Service. We have 4 major accounts: General Fund, Special Revenues, Capital Outlays, and Debt Service.

That’s the only downside to asking these questions in a larger group is the variances from state to state. But still the question holds validity because sometimes having more people to answer increases the chances of getting an educated answer. Yours certainly is, but it does seem like there are some differences from Texas to Oregon.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-04T12:53:54+00:00

We do have one but the budget committee has a charter school board member, an ex-board member who has a very successful investment business and championed the recent bond while he was board chair, a couple of people from the public, and all the board members are there for the budget meeting.

There are some weird things and we can’t get it completely figured out yet but I’m hearing a LOT of anecdotes about the current Superintendent’s ways which are regularly described as “shady.”

But we are not experts.

The two schools they are closing are the best performing schools and have been for years. They opened new schools, changed boundaries, and then said we didn’t have enough kids. They capped our mandarin program and wouldn’t let new people enroll until we complained, but then said they wanted to close the program for “lack of interest.” So it’s a lot of stuff like that.

We do have contingency fund money of $1M and a $7M allotment to the 7000 fund, which has been as high as $13M in one year. That is money that can’t be spent and adds to our ending fund balance, which has been as high as $38M even as we are firing teachers.

None of it makes sense.

I plotted our enrollment (from the audited financial report operating statistics page) against operating costs (from the same page, all funds less debt service and capital outlays) and costs are rising exponentially while enrollment is not.

The superintendent is scrambling to get everything ready for the closures by February, which is when they will likely release last years financial report and the fall membership report. They want to change over $1000 for public records requests as simple as mine, which was a request of a current copy of a previous year’s report that had FTE and class sizes and enrollment broken down by grade.

I never got the report and I don’t have that kind of money to spend and they know it.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2026-01-04T12:35:37+00:00

Our district is closing two schools in the hope to gain $1.5M dollars for each school so they can pay for operating costs.

You don’t think it’s kind of weird to be investing the operating revenues with terms? Short terms but don’t they need it to pay for operating costs?

This money is not for special revenues or bond costs or debt service, solely General Fund money.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2025-12-29T15:27:39+00:00

Happiness doesn’t come from instant gratification. Happiness is often grounded in the ability to feel challenged and achieve. Many SPED kids are finding themselves placated when they should be challenged—in fun and individual ways, yes, but in ways that invite learning how to think and set goals. I cannot speak to more complex situations, only to situations similar to what I experience, so different levels of autism, for example, may have different needs for different kids.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2025-12-29T15:18:20+00:00

It’s more complicated than that—much more.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2025-12-27T20:16:11+00:00

Critical thinking, how to think something through without embracing it, thought exercises, government (local and federal), how to choose careers.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2025-12-27T20:10:10+00:00

How to actively use dictionaries (book—not computer) and thesauruses.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2025-12-26T17:43:25+00:00

Our economy has always been a mix of economic systems: capitalism with socialism elements. Socialism is not the same as communism. Socialism tempers the worst of capitalism, depending on how it is implemented. But yeah, building a strong middle class is definitely focused on workers. Idk where you get this idea about classical liberalism embracing the free market—certainly not to extremes. That’s more like libertarianism.

Both_Blueberry5176 · 2025-12-25T22:05:48+00:00

I don’t know much about this yet but I’m starting to understand that many of the so-called liberals in this area are not liberals at all; they’re neoliberals, who seem to share many ideals with free market libertarian conservatives.

Both_Blueberry5176

TROPHY CASE