Now Is Not The Time To Cut School Budgets

In the past few years, I have become increasingly active in our local schools to advocate for the best interests of my child and the other children who attend our schools. I currently serve as the president of the Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) at Academy of Arts and Academics (A3). In this role, it has become clear to me how critical adequate funding is for our students to succeed.

Two years ago, the Oregon Legislature passed landmark school funding with the Student Success Act, and parents like myself cheered in hopes that our students would finally have the resources needed. Now, the Legislature is considering breaking that promise by underfunding the State School Fund by hundreds of millions of dollars.

As students, teachers and parents work together to overcome the impact this past year has had, we know we will need more resources, not less. By underfunding the State School Fund, we are risking our ability to recover from this pandemic and reducing the amount of funds our schools have to maintain current service levels for students.

In the Springfield School District alone, providing anything less than $9.6 billion to the State School Fund could mean the loss of dozens of teaching positions or cutting school days from our calendar. Now is not the time to shortchange our students and schools like this.

Please join me in calling on our legislators to only support a State School Fund of $9.6 billion – and nothing less.

Darcy Guhl

President, A3 PTSA