Guest Opinion: Student opportunities at heart of Bend-La Pine levy
When voters have cast ballots on funding measures for Bend-La Pine Schools, the need has been all about our facilities: new schools to keep pace with a growing population, remodels to take care of what we have, upgrades in safety and technology. Bonds are for buildings, as we say, and levies are for learning.
The Learning Levy on the ballot this month is something not attempted here in 20 years. Local levies are working in many other school districts in Oregon – including Sisters, Beaverton and Eugene – as communities choose to invest more in the education of their children. Faced with insufficient state support for public schools, we believe it's right to ask our voters for help.
Measure 9-167, our Learning Levy, would provide the district five years of additional funding at a critical time. Our operating costs have steadily increased while state support has been uneven and unpredictable. Oregon's education funding model, based on weighted student enrollment, doesn't adequately meet the needs of our students. Federal emergency funds that school districts received through the pandemic dry up in a few months.
Yet our students show us they need more academic support, help with mental health issues and development of interpersonal skills than they did before COVID. Without passage of this levy, we will likely eliminate 180 staff positions and scale back student services – reductions that will impede our ability to focus on what students need most.
These stakes are real, but the proposed Learning Levy is not all about averting painful cuts. We also can build on the success of programs that are proven engines for student success. Career Technical Education classes, for instance, where students can explore engineering, agriculture, culinary arts, criminal justice and more. Another area where students thrive is the performing arts, visual arts and music classes. Many students are drawn to advanced academic courses and ones which offer them college credit. We have all this now, but in limited ways across schools and grade levels. Our students and families are telling us we can do better, and we agree.
Five key takeaways about the Learning Levy:
- We can avoid cuts that will set back our progress toward student success and meeting the most pressing needs of our learners.
- We can ensure our students get into classes that fulfill their purpose, passions and plans for life after high school, and connect them with promising career opportunities in Central Oregon.
- This levy will help us recruit and keep highly qualified educators, administrators and support staff across 33 schools, and make Bend-La Pine Schools an employer of choice in our region.
- The proposed rate of $1 per $1,000 would cost a homeowner about $20 a month, on average.
- We have a commitment to track, audit and report how every dollar of the levy is spent each of the five years it's in place. This includes oversight by community members who volunteer to serve on our budget committee.
You can learn more about the Learning Levy at BLPlearningLevy.org.
— Steve Cook, Superintendent, Bend-La Pine Schools
Breaking the Mold
Jamie McLeod-Skinner broke the candidate mold in being forthright, an attentive listener, true to basic human values, open to any question and thoughtful in her answers. She is recognized as a person who can be trusted, will follow through, and is unflinching when times are tough. She is anything but "the establishment," and why we keep voting for Jamie.
Jamie is running for us. She will support the needs of Congressional District 5 as it should be represented; from rural to urban, from individual to families of workers, from small to big businesses, farms and ranches, and from forest and water management to fire prevention, mitigation and emergency responses. She supports the rights of workers, women, immigrants, LGBTQI+, BIPOC, and rights of any constituents not being fairly represented.
Jamie McLeod-Skinner will be tough on crime outside and inside governance. She fully understands gun issues and the need for common sense gun regulations. Her knowledge is broad on the national issues; in health care, mental health, of housing continuum from unhoused to affordably housed, in lack of child care, in needs of teachers and of education from pre-school to higher, of immigration, and to address climate change for healthy environments for our children's children to enjoy. She has the knowledge, experience and proven ability to bridge divides and deliver positive results.
Don't be fooled by "the establishment" endorsements of her opponent. Let's break the establishment mold and vote for Jamie, who represents our best and our brightest.
—Susan Cobb
Letter to the Editor supporting Phil Chang
I am supporting Deschutes County Commissioner Phil Chang in his re-election bid on May 21. His 20-plus years of leadership and stance on wildfire-related issues put him ahead of the pack.
Commissioner Chang has advocated for Senate Bill 1511 to create a wildfire prevention system benefiting communities and homeowners. The veteran administrator backs this legislation to: (1) make entire neighborhoods more wildfire-resilient, and (2) provide state certification of those neighborhoods and require insurers to recognize that certification. Mr. Chang agrees owners who make their properties safer from wildfires should "get credit" from the insurance industry by lowering their coverage premiums appropriately.
Phil's opponents in the upcoming race don't have the extensive background and experience he has in forest management and community wildfire protection. They also don't seem to grasp that it takes fuel-reduction work in the forest — as well as defensible space and wildfire resilient construction practices at our homes — to give us the best chance of surviving wildfires. Phil understands how to protect our homes and address rising insurance premiums, and he will keep working for a solution until it is reached.
The upcoming election is historic in that it will be the first non-partisan ballot held in Deschutes County. This means all voters will be able for the first time to vote in the Commissioner race regardless of their political registration. Phil strongly supported the ballot measure establishing this precedent, which is another reason I support his re-election.
—Paul Bacon
Big Trucks Little Men
To all the little boys driving their big trucks who stomp on your pedal so diesel coal-spewing exhaust will fill the air as you pass an electric car please be advised . . . Tesla vehicles are built so the interior is hermetically sealed (I know big word, look it up) and are also equipped with a "bio-hazard" air filtration system that prevents any foul or harmful air from entering the vehicle. So go ahead and pass us. Only harm you're doing is to the air you breathe.
— Evie Cargirl
Letter of
the Week:
Ha! Thanks for the info, Evie. I wish my bicycle had the same filtration system...
Come on by for your gift card to Palate.
—Nicole Vulcan
