I’m a science teacher at South Eugene High School, and I am saddened by Gov. Tina Kotek’s choice to disallow school furlough days. Her argument is that furloughing would decrease the amount of school days in a state that already has one of the lowest number of school days.

However, I believe that she is prioritizing quantity over quality. With the recent budget cuts, we will be losing all behavior specialists and affinity group coordinators who lead important groups such as the Native American Student Union, the Black Student Union, Gender Sexuality Alliance and Jewish Student Union, to name a few.

Many teachers support furloughing so we can keep more educators and keep quality of student experience at the core of schools. Instead, our students will suffer from bigger class sizes, less support and less access to diversity in student groups.

Kotek needs to rethink furloughing and allow it so we can provide quality education next year and keep our teachers, behavior specialists and other important positions. Yes, this will decrease school days, but as it stands we’re in for the same amount of school days with a diminished quality of education.

Dani Tubman
Eugene