No additional money is provided in the Portland Public Schools (PPS) budget to make course offerings more equitable at Jefferson (or Madison, Roosevelt and Marshall). In fact, most of these schools are losing teachers (and course offerings) next year.

The Tribune Quotes Jefferson principal Cynthia Harris saying the school is losing 4 full-time-equivalent (FTE) positions next year (the actual number is 4.5), but this is a little fuzzy. Some of the remaining teaching budget is being shifted to middle school students in the Young Men's and Young Women's Academy, further eroding offerings to high school students at Jefferson.

Also reported in the Tribune article is Mayor Potter's assertion that traffic safety concerns at the Young Women's Academy were "addressed."

In truth, nothing has been done about the crossing in question; it is still incredibly dangerous. City transportation staff came out, looked at it, and declared it "too expensive" to fix. I think it's a little disingenuous to say this addresses the issue.

The school board continues with business as usual, i.e. a two-tiered school system. Middle and upper middle class neighborhoods continue to get comprehensive high schools and middle schools. Poor and working class neighborhoods continue to get stripped-down "academies" for high schools and have their middle schoolers shoved into inadequate elementary school facilities with inadequate curricular and extra-curricular offerings.

We're coming up on two years since county and city auditors called for the school board to justify its student transfer policy that shifts over $40 million a year away from our poorest neighborhoods into our wealthiest. Instead of justifying it, or, better yet, rebalancing enrollment and offerings, they continue to starve North, outer Northeast and outer Southeast schools.

How depressing. Thank you for the information, though, Steve - we all need to know it.