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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

Arpie: Field Trips Are Valuable

Arpie: Field trips are the cement that holds the learning together. They connect what is going on in the classroom to what is going on in the world. I can’t imagine a fourth grader in Idaho only having to read about the trials on the Oregon Trail, picture the burdens of the mountain man, or trying to understand Christianity coming to Idaho. How rich their lives have been and how much will be missed without walking in the wagon ruts, near American Falls, attending a trappers rendezvous in Pierre’s Hole, craning their necks to see the huckleberry stained ceiling at Cataldo mission. More below.

Question: Were you impacted by any school field trip that you took as a kid?

This bill does not mean the end of field trips. Teachers care too much and see the benefits too much to let that happen. What it does mean in an increase in fundraising to pay for the darn things. Imagine even more chocolate sales. It also means the disparity in our state between districts that pass overrides to pay for such things and those that don’t will continue to grow.

Field trips and all district bus use is presently paid for by using some weird state funding formula that makes them even more expensive than seems proper. If the state passes this bill to quit paying for them, which I hope they don’t, the least they can do is amend the bill so that districts and classrooms need to pay the bare minimum to go on trips. Just the cost of the driver and gas seems fair though there are probably a few other expenses that I’m not thinking of.



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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