Oregon Public Broadcasting

I’m Rob Manning, in Lake Oswego, a wealthy school district where local funding is cushioning the budget hit in this economic downturn.

Lake Oswego voters have repeatedly renewed a school tax – most recently, last fall. And parents regularly donate a million and a half dollars a year to the Lake Oswego school foundation. Those two sources account for $8.5 million – or about 15 percent of Lake Oswego’s general fund next year.

Bill Korach: “Our resources based on the foundation and the local option give us some choices.”

That’s Lake Oswego superintendent, Bill Korach.

Bill Korach: “Like asking an elementary parent, would you rather have lower class sizes, and no music, PE, counseling, or diminished music, PE, and counseling, or would you rather have a couple more kids in every class, and have your specialists?”

Korach says he signed off on community preferences and will lay off 20 classroom teachers, while protecting specialists.

One of those layoffs would be here, at Forest Hills Elementary. Principal Gwen Hill says strong funding has kept her classrooms from getting crowded.

Gwen Hill: “Through our foundation support, and state funding, we’ve had very low class sizes. For instance, in our 5-6, 22 students in a classroom. That’s almost unheard of.”

The numbers approach ten students to one instructor, in the primary wing, when you add instructional aides and specialists funded by the foundation.

Gwen Hill: “The group that we’re walking by right now is a 1st grade group, and it’s a group of six children, working with an instructional assistant.”

Even a big group – like this full kindergarten class – has only 18 children.

Lake Oswego’s school foundation has funded teachers and specialists for more than 20 years.

Katy Barman: “The parents in our district see the foundation money working in their schools, and they realize that it’s important.”

Foundation president, Katy Barman initially hoped to raise $2 million for the next school year. Her tune changed when the recession hit.

Katy Barman: “There’s no doubt it put pressure on things.”

But district and foundation leaders say their strong community relationships still helped raise a million and a half dollars. But relationships aren’t the whole story.

Bill Korach: “You could do that in other communities in this state and get nowhere near the results. People don’t have the means to do that. $25,000 foundation donors? That would be a rarity.” 

Superintendent Bill Korach says Lake Oswego’s relative wealth has a downside: it means less money from the state to help students from low-income and foreign-language speaking families.

However, Lake Oswego makes up for that with another revenue source: almost 100 students come to Lake Oswego from elsewhere, with either their family or their home district paying their way.

Bill Korach: “What we want to do, is we want to be an alternative for parents who are shopping among the private school options.”

So while virtually all districts across Oregon are handing out pink slips to teachers – including in Lake Oswego – Korach is still launching a foreign language immersion program. It’s open to parents who are willing to pay for it.