Farm program cuts sow discontent.

Byline: JOE MOSLEY The Register-Guard

JUNCTION CITY - It was a day of outrage and frustration, of public statements and political messages.

But as a long Wednesday drew to a close after a daylong protest by high school students and a crowded, emotional parents' meeting, it was a lingering uncertainty that was most daunting.

Popular high school programs such as Future Farmers of America, vocational education and various extracurricular activities have been targeted for elimination next year as the Junction City School District scrambles, along with other districts around Oregon, to make up for woeful financial news from the state.

"This isn't a one-item show, folks," Superintendent Don Anderson told an overflow crowd of more than 150 people who packed a school board meeting Wednesday night. "This isn't about cutting vocational education or about cutting agriculture. This is about decimating a school district. It's that simple."

The Junction City district came face-to-face this week with a $1.5 million budget gap that comes on top of a $1.1 million deficit already accounted for in the district's 2002-03 budget.

After the district budget committee recommended the unpopular list of cuts Tuesday night, agriculture students organized an unprecedented rally and boycott of classes Wednesday morning.

Future farmers, athletes and musicians alike began their school day at 7:30 a.m. outside the high school by gathering and painting signs to protest program cuts. By shortly after 9 a.m., the crowd had grown to more than 100 students and marched the six blocks east to Ivy Street, which is also Highway 99.

With some wearing fertilizer caps and some hemp necklaces, the students chanted and urged passing motorists to honk - for Future Farmers of America, for sports and music programs and, as one placard said, "for our future."

One boy was mobbed by laughing friends after he held up a sign that jokingly pleaded for passers-by to "Just Stop Honking." His sign was torn apart.

"We just hope to get our opinions out," FFA member Lindsey Smith said as passing cars beeped their drivers' support and truckers laid on their air horns.

"FFA is one of the most active clubs in our school," said Amanda Githens, who organized the protest along with Smith.

Junction City has plenty of company in its budget woes, with rural school districts around the area and throughout the state planning for sharp decreases in state funding.

The Coos Bay School Board, for instance, voted last month to close two elementary schools next fall, and the Fern Ridge School Board followed suit this month by making plans to close Noti and Central elementary schools. The Coos Bay district is looking at a potential $1.7 million shortfall and the Fern Ridge district expects to come up $1.1 million short.

Most districts already have accounted for announced cuts in state school support for the 2002-03 school year and now must find ways to offset the loss of money that would have come with passage of state Ballot Measure 13 last week, as well as new projections of lower-than-expected state revenue.

Measure 13, which would have authorized a one-time raid on the state's educational endowment fund, was soundly rejected by Oregon voters.

"It's tragic," school board member Glenn Collver said after Anderson outlined the scope of the problem. "But it's a tragedy in large part because the people of Oregon got what they wanted."

Like several others in the Wednesday night crowd, Collver blamed a pair of property tax limitation measures that upset Oregon's traditional school funding mechanism over the past 10 years and shifted the financial burden to Salem.

"Except for the time we closed our schools, in October of 1983, this is the worst nightmare this district has encountered," retired school district administrator Keith Gillis said.

Junction City's award-winning agriculture program drew the largest share of support at the meeting and the student protest. But everything from an English as a Second Language program to the proposed elimination of assistant principals at the high school and middle school were discussed.

"This community will get through this situation, I assure you," said Buzz Gibson, who pledged $2,500 on behalf of his family's Lochmead Farms to help save the FFA program. "But let's not blame each other, because we're not the problem."

At Wednesday's rally, sophomore Wes Neal carried a small sign with the scrawled message, "Keep The Music," and said eliminating a guitar class may delay his plans to become a folk singer.

A pair of Junction City police officers showed up long after the rally began and kept a low profile as they watched the goings-on.

Lt. Ken Hancock acknowledged later that the protest had taken his department by surprise but said it seemed to cause no trouble, despite the throng of students crowding busy Highway 99. "Our main goal right now is just to make sure no one gets hurt," he said.

Principal Kathi Holvey joined her students and kept an eye on things for a couple hours. She said she was proud of them for taking the stand - even though she was the one who had to cut the high school budget.

"More power to them," she said, adding that their absences from school won't be excused. ... "If this gets the attention of the Legislature, that's great. If this gets more input from people, that's great."

CAPTION(S):

INSIDE In Eugene, public education supporters gather to call for a prompt and permanent legislative solution to the funding crisis / 1B