Scott Moore

By Scott Moore
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The Crisis of Classroom Overcrowding in One Easy Chart (Okay, Two Easy Charts)

In the past three years, the state has seen mass layoffs of teachers and other school employees, while class sizes have skyrocketed.

The data comes from a series of school district surveys compiled by the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators.

Ok, here's another chart, because it's that kind of Friday. You may have already seen it:

By Scott Moore
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Kicker For K-12 Update, May 16

The drumbeat for school funding gets louder

It was another fantastic week for signature gathering—we’ve now brought in more than 67,000 signatures statewide.

Volunteer Spotlight

We continue to have a great response from volunteers around the state. This week’s Volunteer Spotlight shines on schools advocate and parent Barbara Smith Warner. Barbara has gathered more than 100 signatures largely by talking to other parents at her kids’ events.

By Scott Moore
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Oregonian jumps further to the right with new hire

They may not have hired an actual corporate shill, but the Oregonian today signaled that they’re moving even further to the right by hiring Erik Lukens to be the new Editorial Page Editor.

Lukens comes from the Bend Bulletin, widely viewed as the home to the most conservative editorial board of any major paper in the state. While there, he built up a back catalog of right-wing opinions, steadfastly opposed to taxes, union protections, and spending on basic services like schools. (Unless you’ve got a paid subscription, you won’t be able to read his Bulletin editorials, but here’s a sample courtesy of—surprise surprise—the Oregon Republican Party: http://www.oregonrepublicanparty.org/node/231)

Bottom line: The Oregonian Editorial Board has long been out of touch with its community of readers, taking positions diametrically opposed to their readership on just about every important issue and candidate.

By hiring Lukens to run the Editorial Page, Oregonian Publisher N. Christian Anderson III has made it clear that his intention is to push the paper even further away from their base of subscribers. Oregonian readers who believe their paper should be a reflection of the community will be sorely disappointed.

By Scott Moore
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Rumor Mill: Steve Buckstein to the Oregonian?

Over the weekend, an interesting rumor emerged about who was being picked to replace Bob Caldwell as the Editorial Page Editor of the Oregonian. According to a tip picked up by blogger Jack Bogdanski, publisher N. Christian Anderson III & Co. have decided to hire Steve Buckstein, founder of the right-wing think tank Cascade Policy Institute.

This tip is far from being confirmed and could just be a wild rumor (Buckstein and CPI have reportedly responded to questions by saying “No comment”). But if the rumors were true, it would be the biggest lurch to the right the paper has taken since Anderson took over as publisher.

Steve Buckstein isn’t a household name, so we thought we’d fill you in on just a few examples of the corporate-funded extremism Buckstein has pushed while at Cascade Policy Institute:

1. Cascade Policy Institute has an intimate relationship with Americans For Prosperity, the Koch Brothers-funded organization pushing the tea party ideology around the country. AFP-Oregon’s president is Karla Kay Edwards, who used to work for CPI. She refers to CPI’s publications as the “intellectual capital” of Americans For Prosperity. We don’t fully know who funds CPI, but their summer internship program is funded by Charles Koch.

By Alina Harway
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UPSET about School Funding

Last Friday's UPSET rally monopolized the news this week. Missed it?

Check out our video here.

And our photos from the event here.

Why are these students and parents upset?

By Scott Moore
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Dennis Richardson puts a bullseye on working parents

If you thought you were outraged about Rep. Dennis Richardson’s shameless new political spam enterprise, prepare to get madder.
 
On Tuesday, just as information was coming to light about his massive abuse of the state’s public records laws to harvest email addresses for his spam list, Richardson (R-Central Point) sent a mass email to Oregon accountants asking them if they’re aware of abuse of Oregon’s tax code.
 
But here’s the thing: Richardson isn’t looking to root out any of the large corporations who exploit the tax code in order to avoid paying taxes. He’s not looking to stop tax breaks for companies who ship jobs overseas or get tax breaks for jobs that never materialize. And he’s not looking to end the practice of subsidizing million-dollar mortgages.
 
No, instead, here’s his specific target: The Working Families Child Care Tax Credit.
 

By Scott Moore
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Kicker For K-12 Update, May 9

Signature gathering on the Kicker for K-12 Schools initiative is moving at an impressive rate!

With a little less than two months to go until signatures are due, we’ve collected more than 32,000 signatures. We now have signature gathering offices in Medford, Eugene, Salem, Hillsboro, Portland, and Bend.

By Scott Moore
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Ballot Measure 85: Corporate Kicker for K-12 Schools

On July 6, we turned in more than 200,000 signatures for a statewide initiative petition that will put more funds in Oregon's K-12 classrooms by reforming the corporate kicker. On this page, you'll find information about the measure, including what you can do to help us talk to Oregonians about why we need to reinvest in our schools.

By Scott Moore
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To the Ballot! Our Oregon begins signature gathering on corporate kicker reform

Our Oregon is launching a signature gathering effort to qualify an initiative for the November ballot that would send money to K-12 classrooms by reforming the corporate “kicker” refund.

For more than a decade, school advocates, teachers, and parents have talked about the need for kicker reform. Reforming the corporate kicker and putting those dollars back into our classrooms is an idea that has broad support.
 
“The corporate kicker has long been described as costly and irresponsible,” says Our Oregon Director Patrick Green. “Initiative Petition 35 is an opportunity for everyone who cares about schools to come together and finally do something about it.”

By Scott Moore
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Journey to the center of Bill Sizemore's mind... If you dare

Did you think you'd heard the last of initiative profiteer Bill Sizemore? Not if he can help it.

Sizemore has just filed a sprawling 56-page federal lawsuit alleging that his constitutional rights have been violated. The suit names a laundry list of people Sizemore blames for his legal and political problems, including Secretaries of State, Attorneys General, Justice Department employees, multiple judges, labor unions, and 50 John Doe defendants he hasn't even named yet.

The tome reads less like a lawsuit, however, than a peek into the inner working of Bill Sizemore's mind. It's the History of Bill Sizemore's Downfall as told by Bill Sizemore. In Sizemore's version of his life, nothing bad has ever happened to him that wasn't caused by a vast conspiracy.

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