By Brenna Wiegand
David Beeson of Silverton embarks on his second term as president of the Oregon School Boards Association this month. Having filled the office in 2005-2006, Beeson is the first person to serve twice in this capacity in OSBA’s 64-year history.
Though Beeson’s commitment to public education is immeasurable, his volunteer service includes seven years on the Butte Creek Elementary School Board; 10 years on Willamette Education Service District’s board and a dozen years on the boards of both Silver Falls School District and OSBA.
At OSBA’s conference in November, Beeson told fellow board members from across the state that he considered education the single most important work of society.
“Our success in every other arena of human endeavor depends directly on how well we succeed in the most basic work of educating our people,” he said.
At the conference, Beeson received the platinum award, the highest level of achievement in OSBA’s Leadership Institute.
Beeson is grateful for the excellent public education he received growing up in Lakeview, at the edge of the southeast Oregon High Desert in Lake County.
“Even in the small, isolated town where I was raised, we had the finest teachers, best programs and facilities one could hope for,” he said. “At that time public schools were, compared to today, really well funded and highly supported by communities.”
Beeson said the wonderful, highly educated art teacher and art instruction facilities to which he had access from first grade through high school challenged, educated and inspired him in ways he is still very conscious of today.
Beeson graduated from Oregon State University with degrees in political science and history, attended law school at Lewis & Clark College and later studied elementary education at Portland State University.
“I started out to be an attorney but returned to what I was naturally throughout my childhood: a compulsive artist and lover of the outdoors,” he said. “There are times I wish I had actually become an attorney, but most of the time I’m grateful not to be sitting inside an office somewhere.”
Through his father, the late Thomas Beeson, David Beeson comes from a long line of pioneer ranchers. Most raised sheep, and with his knowledge of and appreciation for the value and utility of these animals, it seemed like a natural fit for Beeson, who lives with his wife Meladee in the pastoral hills above Silverton.
The Beesons raise Black Welsh Mountain Sheep, an ancient breed possibly introduced to the British Isles during the Roman and early Viking conquests.
The changing, amazing beauty around him provides plenty of inspiration for his work as a painter and sculptor. Beeson takes his time creating one original work at a time in his sequestered studio, which is not open to the public.
“I think that a high level of privacy is essential to creativity,” he said.
Beeson is also passionate about raising awareness of elder abuse, one of the fastest-growing categories of crime nationwide. In 2009, Oregon Attorney General John Koger presented him with the Oregon Everyday Heroes award for his efforts.
Silver Falls School District’s staff and school board express gratitude for Beeson’s commitment to education, his knowledge, experience and compassion.
“David is well spoken, well informed about educational issues and cares about the future of public education, both locally and nationally,” said school board chair Wally Lierman. “As a board member, David also cares about our employees, treating them with respect and providing support for them.”
Lierman said Beeson has been instrumental in changing some of OSBA’s governance structure in order to make it more efficient and responsive to the needs and priorities of individual school districts.
“Being president of OSBA takes a large amount of time, travel and dedication and I’m glad there are people like David who have a passion about our education system and are willing to give of themselves,” Lierman said.
Silver Falls School District Superintendent Andy Bellando says Beeson is a balanced decision maker who is able to look at issues from multiple perspectives while constantly maintaining the best interest of students.
“David’s presence on the Silver Falls School Board is invaluable,” Bellando said. “He provides statewide perspectives while at the same time honoring Silver Falls School District’s needs and priorities.”
…and the needs are great, Beeson said.
“Like all public school districts, Silver Falls has had to struggle with funding issues since the passage of Measure 5, the property tax limitation, passed by voters in the early 1990s. The shifting of operations funding for K-12 schools to state government has resulted in a whipsaw effect over time,” he said.
“We are trapped in a discouraging cycle of funding increases, and then abrupt decreases, since the funding source is now the State General Fund and dependent upon tax revenues and, to a great degree, Legislative funding priorities. One of the longstanding goals of OSBA is the pursuit of a solution to this dilemma in the form of stable and adequate funding for public schools, and this will continue to be a high priority under my leadership.”
Nationwide – and in the face of perennial funding crisis – schools must contend with enormous unfunded federal mandates, Beeson said.
“The special education laws are extremely important, but only funded by the federal government at about 18 percent, leaving the state and local districts to make up the balance from local and state operating revenues,” he said. “Another hugely expensive federal mandate, the No Child Left Behind act, remains largely unfunded though its implementation and compliance with the act is compulsory.”
Another longstanding challenge – that of educating youngsters from all walks of life and all situations – has been made all the more difficult in this era, Beeson said, due to the increase of substance abuse, broken homes, poverty, youth homelessness and other factors that deprive students of the nurturing and parental involvement they so desperately need.
“Parental involvement in a child’s education is of critical importance,” he said.
Beeson’s scope of experience causes him to appreciate Silverton and its school district from many perspectives, including the high level of community support for schools and young people and an extremely committed staff.
“The district’s motto, Every Child is a Promise, really is at the heart of our work,” he said.
