Tony Overman/The Olympian
Students at the Thurston County Off-Campus School in Olympia study a newspaper during their current-events lesson Thursday afternoon. From left are senior Amber Walter, 18, freshman Michelle Belorose, 14, senior Matt Davis, 17, and freshman Mallory Mottman, 15. Proposed state budget cuts could force the closure of the school.

Alternative school could face shutdown

Cuts threaten half of budget at Off-Campus School

BRAD SHANNON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Friday, March 8, 2002

"These kids will be back on the streets." -- Rep. Gigi Talcott, R-Tacoma

OLYMPIA -- Fear of budget cuts spread through the Capitol on Thursday, as interest groups began poring over details of a House Democratic proposal that would eliminate almost $700 million in programs.

Among the victims were backers of the Thurston County Off-Campus School, an alternative school that sprang up in the 1970s when public schools did little to cater to nontraditional students.

The House budget plan would trim $1.3 million allocated to 13 education centers statewide, including Off-Campus.

If the $50,000-a-year subsidy is lost, "we close," said Cary Randow, board chairman for the two-teacher school, which caters to about a dozen students. State aid makes up half its budget.

Although many local school districts have alternative schools, many around the state do not, said Steve Daschle, executive director of a Seattle alternative school and leader of the Washington Association of Education Centers.

"The basic budget that goes to K-12 schools should contain funds that go to these schools," Randow said, calling his school a "backstop" that catches kids who fail both in mainstream public schools and their alternatives.

Several lawmakers are trying to save the funding, including Rep. Kathy Haigh, D-Shelton, and Rep. Gigi Talcott, R-Tacoma.

But state Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson said she's more concerned about saving other school programs, including the Reading Corps and Math Corps programs that are part of the more than $90 million she expects to lose from primary and secondary school funding.

Program vs. program

House budget writer Rep. Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, gave no specific reason for cutting the education centers.

"I think the rationale behind everything is we had to reduce K-12 because of the huge amount of the budget it takes up. We don't like any of the cuts," Sommers said.

Neither did anybody else Thursday morning when Sommers offered a hearing on her nearly $22.5 billion spending plan.

"It was negative from many sides -- environment, health, hospitals, social services, courts," Sommers said.

Unpopular choices

The House plan cuts social services deeper than the Senate, but provides more money to higher education and job retraining.

Advocates for long-term care pharmacies said the lowering of prescription drug payments will hurt pharmacists, and some will quit catering to state-paid Medicaid patients.

Advocates for children warned that cuts to child-abuse prevention and health care programs will put some children in danger of violence and illness.

However, environmentalists said the House budget is less harsh on green issues than the Senate budget, which cut natural resources jobs "at a rate three times greater than the rest of state government," said Josh Baldi of the Washington Environmental Council.

"Things are going to change," Sommers said, referring to negotiations that are under way with the Senate, which could adopt a Senate Democratic budget plan as soon as today.

Helping students

Talcott and Haigh said they will do all they can to secure money for alternative education, dismissing arguments that the centers aren't needed as much as they were in the 1970s.

"These kids will be back on the streets," Talcott said. "It is the most effective, low-cost (program) of education in the state."

Haigh said her priorities would put money for early childhood education and the education centers ahead of paying for the reading and math corps.

Haigh said she would also consider reducing teachers' three learning improvement days to two, if teachers are willing.

Troy Moore and Marilyn Walther are hoping Haigh and Talcott can succeed.

Moore, 16, is a student at Off-Campus School.

Moore said he struggled at a Tumwater middle school where lessons moved too slowly.

By contrast, he is thriving with the one-on-one learning at Off-Campus, where he also moves at his own pace.

If Off-Campus has to close, Moore said he'd probably try one of South Sound's other alternative schools such as Avanti High, which is an Olympia School District campus.

But, Walther said, "Avanti has a waiting list, and they send students our way."

Bergeson said she's sympathetic to the alternative schools and their students, believing more alternatives are better.

"If they've found a home and it's working for them, it's going to be a big blow for these kids and their families," she said. "I hate this. I hate to see us having to pit program against program."

Brad Shannon, political editor for The Olympian, can be reached at 360-753-1688 and at beshanno@olympia.gannett.com.

On the Web:

- Senate Ways & Means: 2002 Supplemental Budget Proposals

- Senate Ways & Means Fiscal Updates 2002

- Washington State Legislature

- Washington State Treasurer

- Gov. Gary Locke

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