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COVID-19 | Distance learning in Central Oregon
Enrollment plummets at public schools
BY JACKSON HOGAN
The Bulletin
Enrollment in Central Or-
egon’s public school districts
plummeted this school year.
Bend-La Pine Schools and
Redmond School District lost
more than 1,500 students com-
bined.
Meanwhile, enrollment in
private and online charter
schools skyrocketed, the num-
ber of local students being ho-
meschooled has spiked, and
many parents of younger chil-
dren have opted to postpone
starting school all together.
The overarching theme of
this massive shift in enrollment
is that many parents had no
interest in traditional school-
ing during COVID-19, with
distance learning, constantly
Families left for homeschooling, charter
or private schools — or pulled students out
changing re-opening plans and
post-reopening safety con-
cerns.
“We just wanted a school
year where we didn’t have to
be yanked around,” said Kris-
tina Johnson, a Bend parent
who moved her third grader
from Lava Ridge Elementary
to Bridge Charter Academy
this fall. “We were (also) rea-
sonably concerned about the
risk of COVID transmission
to us, and to our grandparents
who moved next to us to be
near kids.”
Between October 2019 and
October 2020, all six Central
Oregon K-12 school districts
schools, fell by 3.73%.
saw a drop in enrollment, ac-
cording to state data released
Thursday. The biggest drops,
by percentage, happened at
Bend-La Pine Schools, at
6.3%, and Redmond and Cul-
ver school districts, each with
5.4%.
Crook County School Dis-
trict had easily the smallest
dip, only losing 0.4% of its
student population, or 11 stu-
dents. And since October, the
Prineville-based school district
has added 53 more students,
according to Superintendent
Sara Johnson.
Statewide, public school en-
rollment, including charter
Where did the students go?
Statewide and local educa-
tion officials have various the-
ories as to where public school
students wound up.
One big culprit is homes-
chooling.
This school year, the High
Desert Education Service Dis-
trict — a Redmond-based
agency that, among many
other educational duties, reg-
isters local families for home-
schooling — saw a sharp in-
crease of homeschoolers.
Since September, 803 local
students signed up for home-
schooling, compared to 131
last school year, service district
spokesperson Linda Quon said.
Student enrollment decreases in
local school districts
Between October 2019 and October 2020, all six public K-12 school
districts in Central Oregon lost student enrollment due to various
factors. Public school student enrollment fell statewide, too.
Bend-
Jefferson
La Pine Redmond Culver County Sisters
Crook
County Statewide
-0.4%
-3.5%
-3.7%
-4.9%
-5.4%
-5.4%
Source: Oregon Dept.
of Education
-6.3%
The Bulletin graphic
See Schools / A5
Warm Springs during the pandemic
Leader navigates challenges, loss
BY MICHAEL KOHN
The Bulletin
D
anny Martinez,
a member of the
Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs,
has been through war in
east Asia. At home, he has
fought wildfires and served
his community as emergency
manager. At 67, he thought
he had experienced all the
challenges that life could
throw at him.
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
Then came 2020.
Martinez had his hands full
throughout the past year, dealing
with a COVID-19 outbreak on
the Warm Springs Indian Reser-
vation, a destructive wildfire sea-
son, and infrastructure failures
that shut off water to thousands of
residents.
Danny Martinez, emergency manager for the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, helps to ensure that there is enough water to support the community.
See Warm Springs / A6
Lawmakers seek to ax timber tax cuts that cost communities billions
Oregon lawmakers have
filed a spate of bills aiming to
reverse decades-old timber tax
cuts that deprived counties of
billions of dollars and to elim-
inate a quasi-governmental
state agency that has acted as a
lobbying arm for the industry.
The measures follow an in-
vestigation published last year
by Oregon Public Broadcast-
ing, The Oregonian and Pro-
Publica. The newsrooms found
that timber companies, in-
creasingly dominated by Wall
TODAY’S
WEATHER
Street real estate trusts and in-
vestment funds, have benefited
from tax cuts that cost coun-
ties at least $3 billion over the
past three decades. Half of the
18 counties in Oregon’s tim-
ber-dominant region lost more
money from tax cuts on pri-
vate forests than from the oft-
blamed reduction of logging on
federal lands stemming from
environmental protections for
the northern spotted owl.
The investigation also docu-
mented how the state-funded
Oregon Forest Resources Insti-
tute, which has an annual bud-
Partly sunny
High 45, Low 26
Page B6
INDEX
get of $4 million, worked to dis-
credit climate research deemed
harmful to the timber industry
and appeared to skirt legal con-
straints against lobbying. By
law, the organization is prohib-
ited from attempting to influ-
ence policy. Its role is to educate
residents about forestry.
In response, Gov. Kate
Brown requested an audit of
the institute, and a group of
citizens proposed a ballot ini-
tiative to restore timber taxes.
Now, lawmakers are weighing
additional actions.
“We as a state must be able
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to assure, to the greatest extent
possible, that we maintain an
unbiased, balanced and fair
taxation system,” said Brad
Witt, a state representative who
leads Oregon’s House Commit-
tee on Agriculture and Natural
Resources.
The committee will be the
first stop for many of the bills
proposed during the legislative
session that ends in June.
A former mill worker and
officer for labor unions in Ore-
gon, Witt has been a supporter
of the timber industry.
Lottery
Market Recap
Mon. Comics
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Leah Nash/The New York Times, file
Clear-cut forests are visible along U.S. Highway 30 near Portland.
The Bulletin
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BY ROB DAVIS
The Oregonian
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