URGENT: Oregon Schools Need Your Help Today!

By Patrick Green

As the legislature works to bring the 2011 session to a close, a deal is being made that will have a profoundly negative impact on our schools. Lawmakers are working behind closed doors to hold money for our schools hostage to bad public policy bills. Legislators are looking to horse trade $25 million in additional school funding in exchange for bills that would:

expand charter schools at the same time we're being forced to close public schools all over the state,
revoke enrollment policies, causing more financial havoc for already-struggling districts,
force public schools to pay for students to attend for-profit virtual, charter schools,
take money out of emergency school reserves and use it to fund a private, merit-pay program.

Oregon’s teachers, parents, and education advocates are speaking out against this bad deal. We need to tell legislators that these bad policy ideas don't make sense for students and would only take money and resources out of our classrooms.

We need your help TODAY! This deal is being made NOW and your legislators and the governor need to hear from you.

Contact your legislator and the governor today! Tell them:

This package is a bad deal for public education!
The so-called education package will shift money away from our schools, inflicting long-term damage on our students.
Work with educators and education advocates to improve the bills, and if you can't make them better, VOTE NO!!

Across the state, schools are facing deep, painful cuts. The students in these schools can’t afford for lawmakers to play games with their future. We’ve spent the last few months compiling news clips from around the state, and have provided them here for you to read.

The evidence is staggering. Our schools are hurting. It’s time to act.

Comments

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2011-06-21 12:29.

Not once in this report does it mention that Charter Schools (and most are Non-profits!) only get 80% of the state funding and the remaining 20% goes to the districts and they cannot account for where they are spending it. The districts basically getting paid for nothing. In our Charters case the district is getting $183,000 a year for us beig in their district. Charters also do not receive any local funds, transportation funds or any of the Common School Fund. In my district if you look at what the district receives per student from all sources and compare it to the amount our charter receives the charter only receives 46%. House Bill 3397 is about creating equity in funding. Yes we do have a few for profits, take those off the table, please provide some relief for the non-profit charters out there who are doing great things with little resources and could do amazing things with more!

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2011-06-10 09:41.

Patrick says:
"--expand charter schools at the same time we're being forced to close public schools all over the state;
--force public schools to pay for students to attend for-profit virtual, charter schools"

Public charter schools are part of the ANSWER to the on-going schools crisis. In Portland, while PPS continues to cut music, art and PE, our Pubilic Charter schools (which are non-profit, open to ALL residents) are restoring these needed programs. These public charters are the incubators for the type of reform that will make public education viable, relevant and effective again.

But currently, charters get only 80% of the state funding per student vs. other public schools in their district. Not to mention that charters are forced to pay rent and overhead for buildings and services that other public schools get from the state. The bill now under consideration in the Oregon House, House Bill 3397 -- The Equitable Charter School Funding Initiative, would create funding equity for public charter school students.

Please tell your legislators to support this NEEDED legislation!

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2011-06-08 22:16.

I signed your petition, but I have prepared a letter to Mr. Conger, Ms. Telfer and the governor and will fax tomorrow. This scheme is nothing more than transferring taxpayer money to private corporations and whoever thought it up needs to be turned out of office. Oregon doesn't need this Tea Party type legislation and I really did not believe our legislators were that morally defective as to engage in shifting badly needed public school money for private school use.

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 2011-07-09 21:39.

Do not take this the wrong way, but you are not well informed on the education system. You need to get on your school district budget committee, as well as read all bills, as well as run for your school board. When you really learn how the education system works today you'll see that you shouldn't have sent any fax to Mr. Conger, Ms. Telfer and the governor.

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URGENT: Oregon Schools Need Your Help Today!

Contact your legislator and the governor today! Tell them:

School closures

Staff losses

Program cuts

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