Rainy Day may aid school budgets

By Erica Ryberg

The South County Spotlight, Jul 2, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Erica Ryberg / The South County Spotlight

ADVOCATE — Scappoose High School Junior Deniscia Herzberg is no stranger to the financial woes facing K-12 education. The 17-year-old spends much of her time fundraising for school activities.

Last fall, 17-year-old Deniscia Herzberg delivered an armload of umbrellas to the Scappoose School Board along with a message: This is that rainy day.

The Scappoose High School junior also gave them a link to a YouTube video urging action to obtain money from Oregon's Rainy Day Fund for the state's flagging schools. The educational cutbacks dogging the district are personal for Herzberg, who is part of a budget-threatened training program that teaches her how to create and deliver lesson plans at SHS's Preschool Palace.

On June 25, the Oregon legislature overrode a gubernatorial veto and passed a version of the K-12 education budget that releases $200 million from state reserves for the 2009-2010 education budget.

Before the override, the governor's recommended budget had forced the Scappoose and St. Helens districts to address budget shortfalls of over $1 million each with aggressive cuts.

With extra money likely to infuse the schools' previously approved budgets, Scappoose might return some of the six lost school days to its calendar.

St. Helens Superintendent Patty Adams said it's possible that the St. Helens School District will bring back the equivalent of eight full-time licensed positions, five classified positions and a half-time administrative position. Twenty-two teaching positions were slated to be cut.

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