by Joanne Yatvin
When wealthy individuals or foundations give grants to
groups espousing new ideas in the public sector, no harm is done. Even if those ideas fail miserably, the
givers have plenty of money left to try again, and at least somebody got a job
out of the venture. But when a
working person gambles his paycheck away, there’s nothing left to buy food for
his family. Such is the case with Governor Kitzhaber’s Oregon Educational
Investment Board (OEIB) bent on spending the money badly needed by Oregon’s
schools on new bureaucracies, risky projects, and outside organizations.
The latest iteration of this gambling
obsession is the Oregon Reads proposal to offer grants to organizations and
individuals to promote children’s reading. No one claims that the goal is not worthy; it’s the means
that are in question. When so many
of Oregon’s schools have outdated and diminished libraries that merely exist
without trained librarians or ongoing programs to stimulate students’ interest
in reading; when class sizes in many schools are so large that teachers cannot
give individual attention to either struggling or advanced readers, and when
qualified teachers are being laid off because school districts can’t afford to
keep them, how can the OEIB even consider offering grants or contracts to
outsiders on the chance that they will do something to improve children’s
reading?
Let us be clear: Our opposition to this proposal is not
based on OEIB’s perception of needs or goals. We agree completely when it declares: “We must engage,
empower and support families in culturally appropriate ways with the goal of
providing every Oregon child, regardless of native language, with the
foundational skills and experiences necessary to develop a life-long love of
reading.” We also support its intention to partner with libraries, early
learning providers, businesses, and local governments in this endeavor. As long
as partnering means planning together, sharing expertise and facilities, and
recruiting volunteers. It is the
act of handing over money through grants that do not involve participation or
oversight that we find insupportable.
In its operation over the past year the Governor and the
OEIB have consistently sought expertise and strategies from outside experts and
organizations—at great cost-- while ignoring the vast knowledge and experience
that exists within its own public schools throughout the state. In doing so, it has also lessened the
chances of any innovation or structural change being successful. Teachers who feel dishonored and
silenced in their professional work cannot give more than token compliance to
top-down controllers and know-it-all experts who have never walked in their
shoes.
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