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furrlow is spelled furlough.  Ironic, in a blog about education...

posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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Yes, but starting with Eisenhower, we put out priorities towards the military.  Do you feel "safe" with a defense budget larger than all of our enemies' combined?  I don't--I see the things we've lost, and their effects.  For instance, if we had basic economics classes in schools, would more folks have understood sub-prime mortgages and avoiding them, thereby preventing the current housing crisis?

Why call it a crisis at all, if it results from decades of underfunding?  A crisis is something that takes you by surprise.  This current funding situation started with Measure 5, 18 years ago.

posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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Raising the corporate minimum tax (which was set at $10 per year in 1931), we could better finance the state.  Corporations would certainly remain solvent, and indeed would benefit from the more educated workforce, better protected streets and cities, and ability to draw employees to the states for its natural, well preserved beauty.

posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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I agree with you, but in order to decriminalize some drug crimes, we'd need to get past the "tough on crime" bent that Oregon has bought for the past many years, and rescind some of the mandatory minimum laws in place.

We spend more on prisons that schools in Oregon.

posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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Absolutely, well put.

posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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In response to Michael from Tigard, who argues that teachers should be "in the real world" is based on the assumption that a race to the bottom is good, that rather than helping private agencies have manageable health care costs, public employees should be punished as well.

You get what you pay for--let's pay well for the future of Oregon. 

posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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