School Board Elections: Budget Allocation

This post requires more extrapolation. It is still important enough that I at least want to put it out there.

In this case, there is more detail from the Hillsboro School Board candidates, but you see some of the same key words with the Beaverton candidates.

https://communitiesforsensibleschools.org/our-values/

I'd like to draw attention to the "Prepare" section, with the focus on honors and accelerated programs, as well as sports and extra-curriculars. Also, it talks about increasing the rigor to "better prepare high schoolers for life after graduation".

I started in the Talented and Gifted program in the Beaverton School District in 4th grade, when it was still pretty new. I took many accelerated classes, ending in earning a total of 51 AP credits by the time I graduated. I also participated in many extracurricular activities. I enjoyed those experiences for the most part. I am not automatically opposed to those opportunities being available. 

However, a lot of students can't benefit from those. They don't have the economic means, or the parental support. Perhaps they need to work, which I also did. It did affect my participation, though I was still able to do a lot.

Gifted programs have been turning more and more into a marker of elite status. Please remember that a lot of testing that we used was based on cultural competency, so biased in terms of class and race. Even though that is better understood now, I don't know that the tests have changed that much.

I cannot help but feel that the emphasis on gifted programs and such are for the better off parents, hoarding resources for their children. 

The expanded information I have seen on at least one candidate page is a mention of shop and trade programs. Our smart kids will earn college credit early, and other people's inferior kids can learn how to fix things. 

There's nothing wrong with knowing how to fix things. There is also no reason why brick layers can't appreciate dance, or plumbers shouldn't enjoy reading and writing poetry, and that mechanics shouldn't have exposure to different kinds of art.

It also seems worth noting that the newer schools with their confusing schedules and IB focus can really stress students out. Maybe some do better, but those students tend to have parents with means. Perhaps combining regular high school with community college course work can be their solution; that is how Rebecca Skloot first heard of Henrietta Lacks, leading to her award-winning book.

The Hillsboro candidates also talk about smaller class sizes, which I am not sure they can deliver; that's a budgeting thing. Except, they also mention "streamlining the business of education", which sounds ominous. Maybe for them that means lots of staff for the honors curriculum, and then sweat shops where everyone else learns blue collar skills. 

The don't really specify, but being pressed on race does not produce satisfactory answers, and being pressed on homophobia and transphobia doesn't produce satisfactory answers, so my expectations are low. 

I do not want these people having any influence over our students.

And this new Beaverton school board will choose the next superintendent.

For Beaverton School District, please vote for Susan Greenberg, Karen Pérez-Da Silva, and Sunita Garg. While I do not think it is fair to hold the endorsement of the others against LeeAnn Larsen, I voted for Ugonna Enyinnaya, but either of them should be fine. We are just lucky that whoever was recruiting for Beaverton missed Zone 5.

For Hillsboro School District, please vote for Erika Lopez, Mark Watson, Nancy Thomas, and Jaci Spross.

If you are in other districts, it can be pretty easy to know which candidates are which. Look for candidates against sex education and critical race theory, and for opening schools full time immediately, and actively vote against them.

And if you were just going to ignore school board elections, or know other people who were going to do so, please reconsider. This matters.

Ballots are due by May 18th.