Klamath students’ lobbying for small-school funds pay off

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) — The Klamath County School District’s four rural high schools will continue to receive $2.2 million for needed programs, thanks in part to the lobbying efforts of 10 students.

The Herald and News reports the school district was at risk of losing the money because growing enrollment in its suburban schools put its overall weighted enrollment at the state’s cap for small high school funding.

The students from Gilchrist, Chiloquin and Bonanza traveled to Salem to testify before lawmakers in February, pushing them to support a bill that increased the enrollment cap, guaranteeing funding for their schools.

“It was the students’ efforts that changed minds,” said Steve Lowell, a KCSD school board member who also lobbied lawmakers. “It was amazing. They not only testified, but walked and knocked on representatives’ doors up and down the halls.”

That bill, HB 2967, was signed into law Aug. 9. It raises the enrollment ceiling from 8,500 to 9,500 for the number of students who can be in any one school district in order for its small high schools to receive extra funding. The bill included a provision declaring an emergency, allowing it take effect July 1 for the 2019-20 fiscal year.

Glen Szymoniak, superintendent of the Klamath County School District, was pleased with the outcome and the efforts of local state lawmakers, school board members and the students.

“What this allows us to do is to keep growing and continue to provide extra needed money for our four small high schools,” he said.

State Rep. E. Werner Reschke, R-Klamath Falls, wrote the bill and sponsored it in the House. It was sponsored in the Senate by state Sen. Dennis Linthicum, R-Klamath Falls. Gov. Kate Brown signed it Aug. 9.

At small high schools – Lost River, Bonanza, Chiloquin and Gilchrist all have fewer than 200 students in grades 7 through 12 – it costs more per student to provide specialty classes such as agriculture science and career and technical education courses as well as programming and staff for FBLA, FFA, and other clubs and activities. The state’s small high school funding formula supplements the budget and makes these offerings possible.

The new law only impacts the Klamath County School District because of its wide array of school sizes. The district’s 23 schools range in enrollment from less than at 10 Gearhart School near Bly to around 750 at Mazama High School in the Klamath Falls suburbs.