Stand For Children

Education advocacy group gets going in Lake Oswego

By Rebecca Randall

The Lake Oswego Review, Oct 29, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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Lake Oswego parents joined forces with parents and education advocates statewide this year in starting a Lake Oswego chapter of Stand for Children, a Porland-based national child advocacy organization.

The seeds of the chapter were planted this spring when the school district was planning deep budget cuts along with districts statewide.

“We started going to school board meetings to find out what was going on,” said Courtney Clements, an Oak Creek parent. “Several of us came to the conclusion that though we care about Lake Oswego schools, the broader problem is stable funding across the state.”

It was Jennifer Curran and Tracy Groznik who decided to look into getting involved with Stand for Children. Stand for Children has networks of local chapters in five states: Washington, Oregon, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Colorado.

Sarah Pope, an organizing director for Stand’s Oregon affiliate, came to a gathering of parents and explained all of the things for which the group advocates. In addition to advocating for stable funding, the organization supports mentors for new teachers, fair and meaningful evaluation for educators and increased flexibility for schools.

“I really didn’t know all that much until Sarah came,” said Rhonda Cohen, a Lake Oswego Junior High School and Lake Oswego High School parent. “The things I believe were right in line with where they were going.”

In May, the newly formed chapter held its first membership drive and got 35 members.

The organization is both a 501c3 and 501c4, allowing it to act as a charity as well as a lobby group to help pass legislation or elect politicans.

Right now, the group is focused on raising awareness of Measures 66 and 67 (see sidebar on page A9), two referendum items on January’s ballot that could jeopardize $733 million in state funding.

This June, the Legislature passed two tax increases to support a $6 billion budget for K-12 schools in the 2009-2011 biennium. The increases amount to $733 million in revenue from increased taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations.

Opponents to the taxes collected enough signatures to put both taxes on a Jan. 26 referendum ballot. Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown certified the signatures on Oct. 8.

Lake Oswego Superintendent Bill Korach estimates a $3 million loss for the district if the measures don’t pass.

“The reason we didn’t do some of the things we did last year was because of these taxes,” he said.

The district had planned on cutting up to 54 teachers but instead were able to scale back to 19 temporary positions and one probationary position. It talked about reconfiguring schedules at the middle and high school level, requiring fees for after-school and before-school activities such as drama and music, changing non-OSAA sports to club status and shifting junior high sports into an intramural program.

“Some of those things we had ready to go we didn’t do because we didn’t have to,” sais Korach. “But there’s no magic now.”

In November, the district will put out a new fact sheet for planning for next year’s worse-case scenario.

Cohen described Stand for Children’s job as a type of support to the district.

“The school board comes and delivers facts, and we do the advocating,” she said.

The chapter plans on bringing the issue to the business community and PTAs over the next few months. Cohen said that most people she has talked to about the measures are just unaware.

Since January is not a regular election, the biggest challenge will just be getting people to vote, said Pope.

Cohen and Clement named a different obstacle, though – the fact that Lake Oswego schools are still doing better than most other schools in the state.

“From the outside Lake Oswego looks great and that is a hurdle for us right now,” said Cohen.

However, the chapter is looking at that hurdle as an opportunity to be a leader in the state.

“We as a Lake Oswego chapter want to be a leader to make these opportunities available to all of Oregon,” said Clements. “We are in a state, we are in a country. We need to look beyond our borders. We need to do the best for all our kids not just the ones that live next door.”

Clements has an analogy she’s been using: “Thanks to the levy, the (Lake Oswego School) Foundation and careful planning, we’ve dodged a bullet,” she said. “But the bullet is orbital. It’s coming back around in the form of these measures.

“This is an issue for business who want an educated workforce. This is an issue for homeowners who want good property values. This is an issue for people who care about the state,” said Clements.

SIDEBAR: The fact of the matter

MEASURE 66

What does House Bill 2649 do?

House Bill 2649 would add $472 million to the state’s coffers over the 2009-2011 biennium. The bill, now represented on the ballot as Measure 66, does three things:

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