Keep some SUVs, help school clubs

We understand that Oregon state government purports to be a leader in promoting green practices.

But we’d like to believe that putting publicly owned hybrids on the state’s highways isn’t more important than helping high school students travel to workshops and competitions for clubs such as Future Business Leaders of America and the FFA.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to conclude, based on the Legislature’s apparent priorities, that Priuses don’t take precedent over students.

Recently the co-chairs of the Joint Ways and Means Committee, Democrats Margaret Carter and Peter Buckley, unveiled a proposed budget for the biennium that starts July 1.

Their budget deletes $375,000 that helped to pay for travel and other expenses for seven high school clubs. Three of those have chapters at Baker High School: the aforementioned FBLA and FFA, and Family Career and Community Leaders of America.

The BHS clubs won’t disband if the Legislature withdraws the $375,000.

But student leaders said recently that the loss of money could force the Baker High chapters to forego workshops and competitions.

That would be a pity.

The events help BHS club members hone a variety of skills, including public speaking.

But these programs’ greatest value is that they can guide students toward rewarding careers. This, as we understand it, is a key goal of public education.

All of which leads us to back to those Priuses.

We’ve focused on that hybrid model not because we object to the state buying them — in fact, since the taxpayers pick up the gas bill, we applaud the state for choosing fuel-efficient models.

But although they’re quick to tout the state’s greenness, including 318 hybrid vehicles, Oregon officials don’t seem to us as eager to mention that the state government fleet totals 3,922 vehicles.

We did some simple math. It turns out that if the state put off replacing just 25 vehicles over the next two years — that’s less than 1 percent of the fleet — it ought to save at least the $375,000 the Legislature has proposed to siphon from the school clubs’ budget.

We applaud the state for trying to save energy. But we don’t think high school students ought to be punished as a result when better options are readily available.