Why establishing the U.S. Army Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps in Portland Public Schools must be opposed
The Portland Public Schools (PPS) Board of Education is considering bringing the U.S. Army Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) into the district's high schools as one of the Career and Technical Education offerings. The JROTC is a Department of Defense-sponsored program in secondary schools in existence since 1916. The move to embed JROTC in Portland's schools must be opposed at minimum for the following reasons: 1. JROTC programs divert funding from public school budgets because they require public schools to share at least half the cost of the instructors's salaries and benefits. This is especially concerning during a fiscally challenging time that has led to budget cuts impacting staffing across the district. 2. The JROTC turns schools into sites of military recruitment and propaganda . 3. The U.S. Military is a perpetrator of violence, imperialism, and death around the world as well as the largest green house gas emitter on the planet, and thus the
