Superintendent Craig Hoppes has been on the job for Astoria schools now for several years in different positions. This is his first year running the whole show and it just happens to be one of the most challenging we've seen in some time.
Hoppes is creative in his approach in waylaying some of the effects of buget cuts and explained that when school was closed due to bad weather this winter everyone was off and teachers took it as an unpaid day off. That helps. There are still opportunities to make up days to meet state requirements if that becomes necessary. Unlike other districts, Astoria isn't talking about closing the school year early, or lay-offs, or trying to use scare tactics. Hoppes says that at this point no one knows how short the budget for Oregon public school districts will be. He may not know until long after his budget is due. He is preparing a budget based on this year's actual outcomes, preparing contingencies and holding back on all but essential spending. He says when
he knows what the state will actually provide then he'll come back with budget revisions for the board.
On my show this morning he didn't give dire warnings, nor did he speculate on things that may never happen. The sky may fall but if it does I would trust him at this point to tell me exactly how far and leave the politics out of it.
I like this guy. He has a refreshing approach. It's called honesty.
Tom,
ReplyDeleteConsidering that we always seem to have problems funding schools up to their expectations, and that since Measure 5 all the per-student money for schools comes from the state, why do we have five school districts in Clatsop County? All five have superintendants and staff, together with the usual overhead of principles, counselors, secretaries and such for each school. Would it not make sense in a county with only 37,000 people (about 10,000 kids) to have a single school district? Or, even better, since the taxpayers voted to sent all tax money to the state to be divided among the individual districts on a per-student basis, to have one, state, district and let the individual school principals manage the individual schools? In essence, Astoria lets the principles manage their schools without any district supervision anyway. Why, do we need to pay for five districts in Clatsop County? Is it really just for sports competion and school name recognition? Seems like a good question for a news radio talk show. Maybe all the superintendants can answer this.
Craig Hoppes is not only honest,he wants only the best for the children of the Astoria School District. He has gone out of his way to meet with all involved and not stood on a soap box and pump his chest. Our children deserve the best and we are very fortunate to have Craig leading the way.
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