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Sisters, Oregon
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The contents of the on-line edition of The Nugget represent a selection among the stories that appear in the weekly print edition.

Sisters School Board delays start of school
By Jim Cornelius

Sisters school children won't start school until Monday, September 9, this year.

Facing the possibility of $495,000 in cuts due to the statewide budget crisis, the school board voted unanimously on Monday, August 19, to delay the start of school by four days.

That will buy the district time to react to decisions in the legislature. The legislature was to vote again on Tuesday on whether to override two vetoes by Governor John Kitzhaber.

The bills vetoed by Kitzhaber would provide $317 million for schools and community colleges by borrowing against future budgets and providing $50 million in school revenue through bonds payable from cigarette tax revenues.

While Sisters has about $230,000 at stake in the vetoes, there is another $265,000 at stake in Ballot Measure 19, which is on the September 17 ballot. The measure is a scaled back version of a similar failed measure to create a so-called "Rainy Day Fund" for schools.

If the vetoes stand and Measure 19 fails, Sisters faces deep cuts. About eight teachers and seven support staff would have to be laid off to make up the numbers.

Board members hope the delay will help clarify the situation before such drastic cuts have to be made.

The board scheduled two public forums to explain the decision and answer questions -- on Thursday, August 22 and on Monday, August 26. Both will start at 7 p.m. at Sisters Elementary School.

Board members were acutely aware that the delay will cause problems for families. Three of the four members present Monday night have children attending Sisters Elementary School.

"Every single family that has children in the school district will have their schedule disrupted for a week," said board vice chair Glen Lasken.

Steve Keeton put an even finer point on the matter.

"My wife is going to kill me when I go home tonight," he said.

But board members were adamant that the delay was the only way to avoid being stampeded into making crippling cuts at the beginning of the school year.

The lost four days may be added back into the calendar at spring break or at the end of the year. If the worst-case scenario develops, staff could agree to give up the days.

The district's daily operational costs are about $35,000, so a reduction would mean a savings of about $140,000.

Some districts have already shortened the school year.

In Sisters any decision to do that would have to go through the collective bargaining process.

Sisters resident Mike Gould noted that many community members may not understand how the district can continue building a new high school while it is looking at laying off teachers.

School superintendent Steve Swisher explained that bond money for construction cannot legally be used for operational costs.

"You can't stop and divert that to the kinds of issues we're talking about," he said.

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