Class var not retaining values

I have a class defined with a var $reasons that I will use as an array. The code to add to it is: function AddReason($score, $reason, $id) { static $index = 0; $this->reasons[$index] = "$score|$reason|$id"; for ($i = 0; $i < $index; $i++) { $out = $this->reasons[$i]; echo "$out..."; } $index++; return $score; } However, every time I call it, the value stored in the reasons array seems to disappear, and the array holds no data. It seems to be behaving like a local variable, even though it is in a class. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks