VanPortlander

Today I saw something come across my radar that caught my eye - a 2008 Initiative Petition that would ensure that children in the Portland Public Schools would have healthcare (Petition ID PDX 14).

Sounds great! Who wouldn’t want healthcare? Wait a minute… I wonder how this will be funded? According to the folks behind the petition, the city is looking at a $30 million surplus, which could be used to fund the program for the first couple of years. Then, the school district would have to pay for 2/3 of the program.

While healthcare is a lovely thing to have, I don’t think this is a workable solution. The Portland schools are already working with a tight budget and requiring school-funded healthcare is going to mean more cuts from education (which, last time I checked, was the primary goal of the public school system).

And that budget surplus? I can think of a few million other places to send those dollars…

When I caught wind yesterday that a local school superintendent was blogging, I had to check it out. Sure, it’s a tiny school district (Hockinson) a few miles away from where I live, and when you go to the blog it’s missing several typical blog features (like an RSS feed).

Is it a blog? Maybe… depends on how you define blog. It’s a weekly update from Delcine Mesa-Johnson offering her thoughts on current school district happenings. I looked at a few of the major school districts in the area, and while most of them offer some sort of “latest news releases” section, Mesa-Johnson is the only leader who’s blogging. Good for her.