2
Wednesday, April 25, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O
P
I
N I
O
N
Transmissions, tires,
bonds and levies
By Winter Lewis
Guest Columnist
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Let-
ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor.
The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be
no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.
To the Editor:
Recent letters to the editor attacking Nugget
columnist Craig Rullman are disappointingly
intolerant: One can disagree with columnists
without attempting to silence them.
Newspaper columnists are not ambassadors
for their papers. They are not running for office
or trying to win a popularity contest. Their job
is to commit to the page their personal take on
the world. The good ones are highly intelligent,
talented writers, well-informed, well-read in
history, and willing to do the hard work it takes
to mine facts from rubble.
Agree with him or not, Rullman has all of
those qualities and is an outstanding columnist.
As a former reporter for a major metropolitan
paper, I worked alongside many columnists,
some nationally syndicated. These special writ-
ers would not have had their jobs but for their
opinionated views and original voices, and yes,
they were frequently provocative.
There are a lot of newspaper columnists
from whom to choose. I can disagree with
some, yet still learn from them. There are many
Nugget readers who look forward eagerly to
reading Rullman’s columns.
Jane Poss
s
s
s
To the Editor:
Yesterday I was nearly hit by a car in the
crosswalk on Main Avenue.
A lady with a dog in her lap was stopped
on Larch Street at the stop sign, making a left
turn onto Main, heading east past The Nugget.
I thought she saw me. She hurriedly made the
left turn, then made a screeching halt, barely
missing hitting me. She was driving too fast.
See LETTERS on page 6
Sisters Weather Forecast
Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon
Wednesday
Thursday
1riday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Sunny
Chance T-storms
Chance Showers
Chance Showers
Chance Showers
Chance Showers
65/43
64/46
60/39
53/36
51/33
52/34
The Nugget Newspaper, LLC
Website: www.nuggetnews.com
442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759
Tel: 541-549-9941 | Fax: 541-549-9940 | editor@nuggetnews.com
Postmaster: Send address changes to
The Nugget Newspaper,
P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759.
Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon.
Editor in Chief: Jim Cornelius
Production Manager: Leith Easterling
Classifieds & Circulation: Teresa Mahnken
Graphic Design: Jess Draper
Community Marketing Partners:
Patti Jo Beal & Vicki Curlett
Accounting: Erin Bordonaro
Proofreader: Pete Rathbun
Owner: J. Louis Mullen
The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area.
Third-class postage: one year, $45; six months (or less), $25. First-class postage: one year, $85; six months, $55.
Published Weekly. ©2018 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising which
appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility for
information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as uncondition-
ally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently
available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts.
I remember vividly when
my dad sat me down as a
15-year-old and told me he
would help me get my first
car.
“I will match what you
can earn to buy a car,” he
said.
What did I do? Found the
cheapest car I could, with
barely a working transmis-
sion, to get one as soon as
I could. I named it “Sweet
Thing.’”
As a part of my responsi-
bilities with the car, he man-
dated that I set up two dis-
tinct banking accounts. One
account for engine upkeep,
tires and maintenance. The
second account for gas to
make Sweet Thing go.
“Each account is for its
intended purpose and not
to be used for the other,” he
stated.
A monetary firewall was
put up between the two.
When I had no gas money,
Sweet Thing sat cold in the
driveway until I could earn
more money or pressure my
dad to give a little from the
maintenance account. He
wouldn’t.
Little did I know, my
dad was the embodiment of
Oregon schools funding:
Bonds are for the main-
tenance. Levies are for the
gas. Just like my car savings
accounts, Oregon schools
funding law will not let pro-
ceeds from one account go
to support the other.
Two years ago, Sisters
passed a school bond for
building maintenance and
safety upgrades. Those
dollars have been invested
wisely to make sure our
buildings will last and our
kids are safe. Now, the
renewal for gas money is
upon us.
Measures 5 (1990) and
Measure 50 (1997) changed
education funding dramati-
cally in Oregon. Before
1990, 70 percent of school
funding came from local
property taxes, with vot-
ers deciding how much
they were willing to pay
for their schools and also
controlling more in terms
of how those dollars were
invested locally. Today,
only 30 percent of school
funding comes from local
property taxes and the rest
is supported by the State’s
general fund. Salem essen-
tially collects revenue and
redistributes it using an
equalization formula that
“weights” students enrolled
based on poverty and other
demographic data, as well
as special-education needs
(called ADMw) and teacher
experience.
In 2000, Sisters School
District residents chose
for the first time to imple-
ment the Sisters Schools
Local Option levy of 75
cents per $1,000 assessed
value to provide additional
local funding to make our
schools outstanding and
help our students better
compete with their peers
nationally. That same levy
has been approved by vot-
ers three times (2004, 2009,
2013) since then. The last
levy vote, in 2013, passed
by a 79 percent margin.
The Sisters Schools
Local Option levy funds 9
percent of the annual oper-
ating budget for Sisters
schools. This funding
equates to approximately
15 teachers or 26 school
days. The local option
allows our school district
to retain great teachers,
keep class sizes small and
maintain a full school year.
The renewal of the levy is
key in funding our core cur-
riculum classes, special-
education and advanced-
placement (AP) classes.
The levy also helps to
support our unique Sisters
schools programs like flight
science, Interdisciplinary
Environmental Expedition
(IEE), and the luthier
program.
Here’s the bottom line:
We can keep the gas money
coming without raising
taxes. The Sisters Schools
Local Option levy before us
is to renew our gas account.
Not asking for more, just
keep it the same.
The School Board has
done the right thing with
the bond dollars they
were given two years ago.
Getting public input, adjust-
ing projects as needed and
being transparent with their
funding process. The car
is performing well and our
kids are better for it. Let’s
keep giving them the gas
money to drive toward a
brighter future. Vote YES
on 9-121, renew our Sisters
Schools Local Option
levy.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.