Red or black, balancing the budget is about resolve

  • Published: 11/11/2009 10:10:19 AM
By Betty Komp
State Rep. House District 22

There’s nothing quite as alarming as balancing the checkbook and ending up with a balance in the red.
 
The legislature has disbanded for the year, but budget updates are a near-daily part of life and the numbers aren’t pretty.
 
For someone who considers even a few dollars overdraft cause for concern, news that Oregon is already looking at a budget shortfall of $183 million for the next fiscal year is nothing short of bone-chilling.
 
Then I remember I’ve been in these situations before. My first year as principal of French Prairie Middle School was spent dealing with similar concerns.
 
When I took the reins, French Prairie was rated as “low performing,” and facing an enrollment increase of more than 250 students in the following years. We discovered the solution at the intersection of the short- and long-term problem.
 
After talks with the site council and the faculty, we determined that our primary goal was to reduce class sizes. In doing so, we hoped to increase student achievement and begin laying groundwork that would allow the school to absorb the glut of incoming pupils.
 
The seemingly insurmountable obstacle to attaining this grandiose dream was a budget stretched paper-thin.
 
To put it succinctly, we had no money to grow the school and had to work with what we already had.
 
We quickly discovered that with some elbow grease and a few new walls we could add about five classrooms to our existing facilities. To be sure, there was some immediate suffering felt by teachers who were displaced by the upheaval.
 
I frequently reminded them of our goal and that the end result would be worth the temporary frustration.
 
In a few short years, the school improved its rating to “satisfactory” and accommodated all of the new students who had entered into our school.
 
While the numbers are quite a bit larger in state budget, the principles remain the same.
I have had the privilege of being appointed the state’s veteran affairs committee twice.
 
The first time, more than five years ago, our greatest problem was making certain elderly veterans in rural areas could access Veterans Administration services located in Portland.
We were, of course, constrained by budget. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we began by looking at what already existed.
 
What we discovered, in fairly short order, was a network of volunteers throughout the state dedicated to serving veterans and who spent long hours driving friends and loved ones to appointments. We redirected a portion of the budget to reinforce that network and ease the financial burden of the volunteers.
 
During the more recent appointment to the veterans committee, the most pressing issue was providing for recently returned veterans who, in some cases, desperately needed mental health services. The key was making sure such services would be available no matter where they live in the state and years from now. I’m proud to say we did exactly that.
 
So, when I hear about a shortfall in the coming year that is massive by any definition of the word, I do what I’ve always done: let out a sigh, roll up my sleeves and set about finding our way back to black.

Share   |   Email


Comments

We welcome comments from registered users. Comments are solely the responsibility of those who post them; their viewpoints are not endorsed by the Woodburn Independent and WoodburnIndependent.com. (read more)
Highlight
ship name
no comments have been added

(last 7 days)