We want to hear from you about education.

We want you to help inform some editorial topics our editorial board may take on over the next couple months.

What questions should we be asking? Who should we be talking to?

The Bend-La Pine School Levy. It’s coming to the May ballot. What do you want to know about why the levy is being proposed and how the money might be spent? What other questions do you have?

Book banning. That’s probably not the right term for it, because it is more about how schools make decisions about what students should or should not be reading. First, we will have to better understand how schools make those decisions today. But as you know, the Legislature and others have been interested in shaping that decision. What do you want us to ask?

Student behavior. Not so long ago teachers and others lined up at Bend-La Pine School Board meetings with alarming tales of disruptions in the classroom and at school. Bulletin reporters recently took a deeper look at it. You can check that out here: tinyurl.com/BLPbehavior. What concerns do you have? What have you heard? Have you noticed changes?

New educator contracts. We want to better understand how the new contracts for Bend-La Pine employees will impact the district’s budget going forward. Much of it depends on what K-12 budget numbers the Legislature will arrive at in 2025. But the contracts will shape it, too. What should we be asking?

The great things. There are great things that happen in the schools every day. There are so many and so many people that will never know about. Tell us if you know something. We need to highlight the great things schools do and not just dwell on the policy challenges.

Is there another topic that we should be writing about? Tell us.

Email us with your questions or comments at rcoe@bendbulletin.com. Please put “Education” in the subject line to make it easier to find your email.

We may want to invite you and some others to meet with the editorial board to talk with us face to face, by Zoom or with a phone call. If you don’t want to do that and just want to email us, that’s fine. Just let us know if you would be open to more.

We do want to hear your suggestions and we will take them seriously. So get started on that email.