by JANET KNOWLES
When the bond was defeated, Barbara Kline said “people didn’t know enough.”
What I knew was that many people around me were without work or had reduced hours and income. This bond proposal is huge in good times, but inconceivable in hard economic ones. In my experience as a school business manager and board member at all school levels, I had to ponder why a district with declining enrollment would propose such a bond measure.
Historical Numbers
Apparently the middle school, which is less than 30 years old, is in such disrepair that it needs replacing due to lack of maintenance for many years. But when I examined the school enrollment, it seems that it doesn’t need replacement. The enrollment of Orcas students is in decline. School peak in 1998-99 was 585 full time students. In 2005/06, there were 500 students, the next year 465, then 430, then 417 (State of Washington website – Office of Superintendant of Public Instruction). Currently, there are 395 students (stats from Keith Whitaker). If 585 students used to occupy this space and we now only have 395 students (projected 388 for 2010/11), there is no need for a replacement building for the middle school. The middle school students could be accommodated in the elementary and high school buildings.
OASIS in the mix
The district claims enrollment is above 500 when OASIS students are included. That is true – technically. Except the vast majority of OASIS students are “cyber” students who do not reside on Orcas but elsewhere in Washington. The administration and board use these “inflated” numbers to illustrate that the enrollment is rising on Orcas when in reality the students who live on Orcas and attend the school are in decline. The district is working towards a “virtual” school here on Orcas – using the OASIS arm as the “need” for additional capital buildings. However, these non-resident cyber students will never attend the school – instead they teleconference and communicate via computer. Whitaker and others share that the enrollment will steadily increase – due to the success of the OASIS program. We should not count “out of district” cyber students in defining the real physical needs at the school? Where is the transparency in the discussion for the Bond proposal?
The school’s inflated or distorted enrollment numbers don’t show the true trend line for enrollment, we could easily be below 350 real students in five years. Yes, we could have 1000 students enrolled but, only 350 attend the school, so why the need for all the buildings? The district receives Full-Time Equivalency monies paid for each student “enrolled” within that district – hence the huge recruitment for out-of-district students since the school gets the dollars but not the “attending” student. Taxpayers are being asked to pay for the bond measure in the belief that we have an increasing enrollment. No space is needed for OASIS cyber students since teachers communicate with students via the computer which could be at home or in a coffee shop. Why should Orcas taxpayers pay for the projected “space needs” for out of district students?
Extending the payment timeline
At the recent May 12, 2010 Special Board Meeting, increasing the payback time on the bond to 25 years was deemed “a better choice for those on a fixed income and given the current economic climate.” So making a really poor decision but spreading it over a longer life will make it more palatable to the voters? When I asked at a special meeting where in Seattle or any other place in America a public school existed like their proposal, I received blank stares and no response.
With declining “true” enrollment numbers, why is a bond being proposed for $27 million? Was a cost/benefit analysis ever done for this bond proposal? It could never have been done. Proposing and planning such grandiose ideas for a public school in a community as small as ours to meet the needs of a small and declining true enrollment is incomprehensible.
Before you vote on the bond measure, do what Barbara Kline says: educate yourself about the merits, cost and who truly benefits from this expenditure in a district with true declining enrollment.
Janet Knowles lives in Eastsound.
