Audience members at a town hall-style meeting in Coos Bay Friday discuss education issues with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Castillo. World Photo by Carl Mickelson

On Friday night, one politician, one state department head and about 160 audience members filled the Marshfield cafeteria to standing-room-only capacity.

No - school cafeteria workers weren't unveiling a new flavor of dessert. The multitude gathered to discuss the current state of public education on the South Coast, throughout Oregon and ultimately across the nation.

The politician was Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, Marshfield High School's former principal turned House representative who is embarking on his first year as a politician in Salem. He was accompanied by Susan Castillo, the superintendent of public instruction for Oregon's public school system.

The event was billed as a town hall-style meeting in which attendees were invited to advise and reflect on the state of education funding in Oregon and other matters.

"What do you want from us?" Castillo asked the crowd.

But before they addressed that question, Roblan first described the particulars of a political brouhaha he was caught up in that made headlines across the state.

As a member of the minority Democratic Party in the Oregon House, Roblan was informed recently by Republican leadership, that if he opposed the Republican's $5.2 billion education spending bill for the 2005-07 biennium, (most Democrats on both sides favor at least a $5.325 education package) the Republicans likely would move to kill a transportation bill that would shuttle $10 million for renovations and improvements to the North Bend Municipal Airport.

Roblan said the ultimatum handed down by the Republicans frustrated him because during his 2004 campaign, he stumped for a $5.4 billion education package and to revitalize the airport in hopes of stimulating economic development on the South Coast.

He is being forced to decide between two campaign promises that earned him votes last November.

Without explicitly stating which way he would vote - the House was scheduled to vote on the education bill today - Roblan stated Friday he would not bow to threats.

"My number one issue is integrity - doing what I said I will do," Roblan said.

Quickly following those remarks were assurances from Roblan that he would do "whatever it takes" to secure money for the airport.

"I will not rest," he said.

Roblan also denounced a recent House vote that slashed capital gains taxes - a move he said that will suck $400 million out of the state's revenue base.

"I have a hard time when we keep giving money away," Roblan said. "Half of the budget goes to tax breaks," adding that those who will profit from the move are those who make more than $126,000 annually. While he does believe in some other tax breaks, he pointed out that Oregon's tax breaks keep an estimated $12 billion from state coffers.

The focus then shifted to questions from the crowd, made up mostly of educators - and some parents - from the South Coast. Many educators asked Roblan and Castillo to look into improving state and federal standardized tests. Oregon's high school testing system, the Certificate of Initial Mastery, or CIM - which showcases students' state goals in reading, writing and math - took a beating by the crowd. Teacher after teacher said the test puts a stranglehold on a teacher's ability to teach students.

Terry Rivas, a seventh-grade English teacher at Harbor Lights Middle School in Bandon, said for the last four months, her school has focused an inordinate amount of time on state and federal assessments.

"That's not teaching - that's testing," Rivas said.

Her remarks were followed by resounding applause.

Despite several bills in the Legislature to do away with CIM outright, Roblan said the test does not need to be abolished but, instead, could be made much more efficient. As a former principal, he said he's seen firsthand how the tests stymie teaching efforts. Too much time is wasted on keeping track of all the testing, he said.

"We need to continue to push on CIM and CAM (the Certificate of Advanced Mastery) ," Roblan said. "It's not working in the eyes of the students."

Educators blasted the federal No Child Left Behind Act as being an unfunded mandate and also criticized inconsistencies between it and state standards. Sometimes, schools and districts are measuring up to state standards, but are dropping the ball when federal standards are applied.

Coos Bay Curriculum Director Duella Scott-Hull said the true measure of student achievement - individual student progress over a period of years - is not accounted for in the assessments.

After the meeting, Roblan agreed with Scott-Hull, stating the focus needs to be somehow shifted to individual student progress.

Despite the overwhelming negative reaction to NCLB from the crowd, Castillo told those gathered there was not much that could be done to get rid of it.

"It's not going away," Castillo said.

While no fan of NCLB herself, Castillo noted it can be revised. Both she and Roblan commended the law for shining a brighter light on the progress of racial, ethnic and other subgroups within schools - a practice that heretofore, wasn't carried out.

Castillo said it's now clear when Congress passed NCLB, they weren't fully aware of the impact of the bill. If politicians didn't vote for it, people would think they were in favor of leaving some child behind when it came to educational excellence.

"But they were never aware of the technical parts of the bill," Castillo said, as she used her thumb and index finger to illustrate the estimated 5-inch thick educational tome.

On another note, they both predicted a Senate bill that would vastly change the makeup of Education Service Districts throughout the state wouldn't survive.

"I'd be surprise if it goes all the way through," Roblan said, noting, however, that the funding dispersal of ESD money should be analyzed and revamped. The brunt of ESD taxes on rural communities are used in areas of the state that don't need the money, he said.

Another promising movement, Castillo said, was the growing realization by national economists that one of the soundest investments businesses can make is in early education. She said more and more people are recognizing that money spent on early childhood education will ultimately mean less money spent on building prisons, combating teen pregnancy and drug abuse.

After the meeting, Rivas said she had attended hoping to learn what roadblocks were impeding the state from adequately funding public schools. She didn't ask Roblan and Castillo that question outright during the meeting, but said she did not hear many answers to the funding problem over the course of the two-hour meeting.

"They didn't offer solutions," Rivas said. "They acknowledged the problem. They're frustrated too."