As of the past couple of years, the Corvallis School District has been front-page news in this town. The Corvallis School District has decided to reduce district spending and they are continuing a hiring freeze through this year. They have returned to sharing specialist programs between buildings, and they are also reducing teaching positions to pre-covid sizes. This is all due to a decrease in student enrollment in public schools. The school district has admitted that over 250 students would be leaving the school system next year. These students aren’t leaving because they are graduating, but because they see better opportunities in other school systems. “If you truly wanted to put students first, you would lay off district level administrators who don’t work with students, instead of laying off teachers, librarians, skills trainers and other staff who work directly with students all day, every day,” Naomi Hartman said at the Corvallis School District board conference. Also at the board meeting, a trombonist from Corvallis High School, Connor Lindberg represented the school band in saying that they would not perform pep tunes or do halftime shows at football games until the School District starts to cut equitably. “We cannot stand idly by, while something that we love and is an integral part of our lives gets taken away from us and future generations,” he said. Naomi Hartman also pointed out that the Corvallis School District’s job is to provide an equal educational opportunity to all students, no matter the income at home. Taking these classes away creates an inequitable situation for students who want to take them. Either students pay for private lessons, or take a class outside of school, which costs money, or they miss the opportunity to explore these fields of study. Studies have shown that children benefit from these activities, and they aid in almost every aspect of life. Sarah Farrell, another person who spoke at the board conference said that: “Next year, elementary schools can be expected to be served by library staff three or four hours a day,”.

Two elementary schools, Mountain View and Katherin Jones Harrison have been reported to dip below three hundred students in the upcoming school year, and according to a CHS teacher, forty certified teachers will not be returning next year, which includes ten people being laid off. These cuts were based on seniority. Next year, the non charter school enrollment is expected to decline by one point two percent. Lauren Wolf, the school district’s finance director, said that there is a ten point four million dollar shortfall which requires eight point two million dollars in corrective action. “I’m personally really proud about how we used the dollars in Corvallis,” she said, in reference to the pandemic funds.