Rural school districts turn charter to save themselves

PAISLEY, Ore. -- Just about all 80 students in this speck of a town gathered to cheer their superintendent as he headed to the state capital to try to save their school from extinction after $286,000 in budget cuts.

Mark Jeffery went to Salem that day looking for a last-ditch miracle -- and now, two years later, with his school richer by $350,000 in federal funding, he believes he's found one.

Paisley saved its school by turning it into a charter school, bringing in federal money earmarked to get these new institutions off the ground. It's an increasingly common option among the small, rural schools in the West as they struggle to survive budget cuts, declining enrollment and forced consolidation with other schools.

Paisley -- and schools like it in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah -- were not what charter supporters expected when the concept surfaced in Minnesota about 15 years ago.

"Most charters are started by angry parents or innovative outsiders," Jeffery said. "But for us, there was no other help out there. It was either this, or send our kids on some horrific bus ride, and take the heart out of our community."

Paisley, a town of about 250 people in south-central Oregon, took about $10,000 of the federal money and the school district bought five heifers and one bull. The idea, said agriculture education teacher DeNae Sims, is to raise money by breeding the cattle and selling their calves.

Jeffery said though Paisley is still vulnerable, the move has bought the district some time.

"We believe what we have built here is a system that can continue to operate," he said. "As long as we don't lose too many more students. Our hope is to last long enough to see changes in funding and tax structures that could enable rural education to survive."

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On the Net:

Paisley High: http://paisley.presys.com/education.html

Rural School and Community Trust: http://www.ruraledu.org/