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Tom_in_Portland's comments:
on Making Economics from Lemonade
I agree. Its the mom's fault. Many of news stories omit the fact that this lemonade stand was not the nostalgic picture of a little kid setting on the corner in front of her house. The media neglects to note that they don't even live in the neighborhood - the mother drove her daughter 12-15 miles from their home in Oregon City to the Alberta Street Fair (not exactly a family friendly place). The media also conveniently omits that the health inspectors were there to check all food vendors. The media makes the story sound like they singled her out. County Chair Jeff Cogen should be apologizing to the inspectors that were just doing their job, not the mother who was exploiting her daughter. What would he be saying if the story was about people got sick from a lemonade stand and county inspectors looked the other way - the County would be facing millions of dollars in lawsuits.
posted 2 years, 9 months ago
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on Classes To Cut
Bob -
Schools are slow to add technology because they don't have any money!!! Are you willing to buy 45,000 iPads for PPS students?
posted 2 years, 10 months ago
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on Classes To Cut
I am sorry this is not helpful - we have been looking for these phantom "efficiencies" for a decade. There is not that much fat left to close a $19 million gap. Get real - start working on real school funding reform.
posted 2 years, 10 months ago
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on Classes To Cut
Spanish Immersion is an extra program that we can no longer afford - cut it or make it parents who enroll their kids in the program pay the added costs. That is the reality we are no facing.
posted 2 years, 10 months ago
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on Classes To Cut
Mark -
I agree. Public employees across this state need to contribute more to their health care costs. But that is only a short term fix. We can not continue to turn to public employees for band-aid fixes. We have a structural funding problem.
To the public health advocates and others who do not want their special program cut, show me the money. We have been cutting back on "central administration" and maintenance for the last decade. It is any wonder our schools are falling apart?
The way we fund public education in this state is broken. The property tax reforms of the early 1990s are the cause of this problem - thank you Bill Sizemore. Oregon has slipped from 15th to 44th in per capita spending on education. Under these reforms, Portland property taxpayers send $400 million every year to the rest of state.
The solution to this structural funding problem requires statewide property tax reform. We have had 10 years failed leadership on this issue in Salem. It's always another special commission or wait until the next Legislature. Kulongoski has given nothing with his Reset commission. Now we get more of the same from our future governor - no specific proposals from Kitzhaber or Dudley on how to fix the system. We need real leadership on this issue - which means Oregon property taxpayers are going to have to pay more if we want a quality public education system with PE, Art, smaller class sizes and longer school years.
posted 2 years, 10 months ago
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