Eugene weekly., January 13, 2011, Page 11, Image 11

K IM PASH - BELL
Teachers
or Tutors?
Will budget woes make tutors the only way
Eugene kids get an education?
BY ALE X ZI E LI NSK I
I
t’s halfway through the school year, and South
Eugene High School Spanish teacher Lynette
Williams is already fed up with the lack of school
funding.
With an estimated $22 million 4J budget defi cit on
the horizon for the 2011-12 school year and smaller cuts
being made every month, Williams sees her classroom
and others struggling to meet basic requirements.
“We teachers are doing the best we can, but there’s
a tipping point, and we have absolutely hit that tipping
point,” Williams says.
“This isn’t a teacher issue, but a state issue,” Williams
says. “At the same time that the state is drastically
cutting the budget, you have them imposing stricter
regulations on grade level requirements. How is that
supposed to balance out?”
However, instead of promoting a switch to private
schools, a concept that some have advocated for,
Williams believes that another area of the education
sector can keep public schools afl oat: tutors.
“I’m for a combination of keeping students in public
schools and off ering inexpensive tutoring to supplement
for what can’t be covered in the classroom,” Williams says.
For those who can aff ord it, tutoring has become a
more prominent option as teachers and parents alike see
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classroom standards plummet due to the shrinking
state budget. While some schools off er free assistance,
the price of commercial tutoring leaves many aspiring
students behind.
The shortage of in-class help due to higher student-
to-teacher ratios has also resulted in a cycle of across-
the-board performance defl ation. Williams’ upper-level
Spanish class has remained a teachable size, but she
notices SEHS math classes, in particular, growing up to
52 students.
“With a class that large, there’s no way to get to a
student’s needs,” says Williams, who has watched her
students entering her class with dropping levels of
education as the cuts increase.
Paying for Public Education?
In response to a projected $240 million loss in state
funding for the 2011-12 school year, Eugene’s 4J and
Bethel school districts are preparing for massive cuts
to their already tight budgets.
George Russell, 4J superintendent, outlined the
most recent budget cut recommendations at a Dec.
8 board meeting. His estimated $22 million budget
shortfall, around 15 percent of the upcoming school
year’s general fund budget, leaves little room for
fl exibility. In conjunction with closing fi ve district
schools, Russell suggested consolidating schools,
leading to increased student populations. He also
recommended cutting six more school days, and
creating a total of 12 staff unpaid furlough days from the
2011-12 schedule. Russell expects to lay off 62 teachers
and 43 administrative staff members, further crowding
those already packed classrooms.
For Russell and most school districts across the
county and state, minimizing resources appears to be
the solution to the looming fi nancial defi cits.
SEHS provides free tutoring by upperclassmen and
UO students, but Williams says the best tutors, whom
she recommends to her students’ parents, come at a
high price. An average tutor charges from $25 to $50
an hour, which she says creates discrimination within
the classroom.
“It’s all about the have and have nots,” Williams says.
“The gap has widened between those who can aff ord
or have time to schedule tutors and those who can’t.”
And she doesn’t face the consequences of
unbalanced tutoring only in the classroom. Williams
has two teenagers at home and fi nds it necessary to
hire regular tutors to keep her children on track to
college. She says she feels guilty at times knowing
that so many potentially bright students will fall behind
since they can’t aff ord such assistance.
“With increased budget cuts, aff ordable tutors and
in-class assistants must become a necessity,” Williams
says.
Williams is not alone in her observations.
Kim Pash-Bell, director of Eugene’s Tutoring Tree, says
she thinks most parents who don’t bring their struggling
child to be tutored do so because of the price.
“It’s a vicious cycle,” Pash-Bell says. “Those who can
aff ord tutoring will come and benefi t and those who
are unable to aff ord it leave their kids without enough
resources.”
The students who do come to Pash-Bell for help
need it more than ever, she says. Larger class sizes
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