The State of Corvallis Schools

Al Hutchinson, a long time Corvallis resident and business entrepreneur, unsuccessfully ran for a position on the Corvallis School Board in 2012. In preparation for another bid in 2015 he began researching the current state of Corvallis schools and uncovered some disturbing information. For one, the State of Oregon has the fourth worst graduation rate of all 50 states. Only 68% of Oregon’s students graduate on time from high school; 70% of white students, 58% of Latinos, 78% of Asians and 54% of blacks, the 3rd worst graduation rate for blacks in the nation. What is surprising is that Corvallis is no exception.

Forbes Magazine recently ranked Corvallis 5th Best Educated Community in the United States. 51.9% of Corvallis adults over 25 have a college degree, and 94% of adults over 25 have a high school diploma. In spite of that, the two main high schools in Corvallis, Corvallis and Crescent Valley, graduated just 70.5% of the senior classes in June of 2012. The graduation rate in Corvallis has been declining for several years, and the rates will be even worse for 2013 when they are announced in January. This happened in spite of a reduction in the number of students enrolled in Corvallis School District 509J of from 7300 students in 2002 to 6200 students in 2011, and regular increases in the school district’s budget. The recently approved budget for the 2013-2014 School year is $98 Million. With only 6200 students in the district, that comes to $15,750 per student for the school year. As a comparison, West Albany High School and South Albany High School had a combined graduation rate of 85%. The schools in neighboring Albany achieve better results for about $3000 less per student than Corvallis.

There are several reasons for such dismal results. One is a “social engineering” program called Dual-Language Immersion (DLI), which the two elementary schools, Lincoln and Garfield, have adopted. Both schools have large Spanish speaking populations, and many students arrive speaking no English. The program calls for half the school day to be spent teaching classes in Spanish and the other half in English. This means the English-speaking students are being pushed to learn a new language before mastering English. It also means they are struggling to grasp material being presented in a language they may have never been exposed to before. When School Superintendent Erin Prince was asked how success was to be measured under the DLI program she stated, "It has not been in effect long enough to measure." She also pointed out that, "This program has no cost."

Another factor could be that students are not held back or required to attend Summer School if they fail. ‘Social promotion’ may not wound a child’s self-esteem, but if children do not learn the basics in grades 1 through 4 they are totally unprepared for everything that comes later. The Principal of Linus Pauling Middle school in Corvallis, recently stated, "59% of the 6th grade students entering [his] school are not proficient in Math." The State of Tennessee is well aware of the seriousness of this; they forecast their prison population needs twenty years in advance based on the success rate of their students in those early grades.

But perhaps the most serious problem is with the School Board itself. Currently, six of the seven board members have public sector backgrounds, the seventh being an employee of Hewlett-Packard. None has run a business or made a payroll. Almost all are retired and receiving a public pension. All have limited board experience, and fail to understand the need for establishing measurable goals with which to evaluate the success or failure of the Superintendent. The result is that Superintendent Prince is operating without oversight. The fact that Corvallis high schools failed to graduate 30% of seniors on time in 2012 clearly shows that the School Board and Superintendent have limited experience for managing a $98 Million per year enterprise. In fact, Superintendent Prince recently announced that, "The numbers will be worse when the 2013 graduation rates are published; the Corvallis 509J School District will lose another 115 students for the 2013-2014 school Year."

While the Corvallis school budget continues to increase, the number of students being taught diminishes, and yet the percentage of students who actually graduate decreases every year. To make matters even worse, the School Board gave Ms. Prince a glowing review for her ‘accomplishments’ as Superintendent.

The core of the problem can be understood by reading the Corvallis School District Mission Statement, which is, “To prepare our students for life after graduation.”

What it should say is, “To prepare our students for graduation.”