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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 2017)
Appeal Tribune Wednesday, February 15, 2017 3A CANYON VIEWS Advocating for public schools on Capitol Hill TASS MORRISON COMMENTARY I was one of a 13-mem- ber Oregon delegation to the annual advocacy insti- tute presented by the Na- tional School Boards As- sociation in Washington, DC January 29-31, 2017. The delegation was made up of members of local school boards and was sponsored by the Oregon School Boards Associa- tion. Our mission was to discuss Oregon’s public school education priori- ties with our congression- al delegation. NSBA provides this event annually and hun- dreds of local school board members from across the United States attended this year. The first two days, Sunday and Monday, we attended sessions from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. presented by a variety of speakers, including government re- lations experts, media ex- perts, education re- searchers, public policy experts and members of Congress. The third day we spent on Capitol Hill meeting with our repre- sentatives from Oregon, including Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley; and representatives Kurt Schrader, Earl Blume- nauer, Greg Walden, Pe- ter DeFazio, and Suzanne Bonamici. The key priorities for Oregon we addressed spe- cifically are: Secure Ru- ral Schools Funding; the Trails Continued from Page 1A Those two sides — and anyone else interested — can make their case begin- ning at 6 p.m. in room 124 of the North Mall Office Building (725 Summer St. NE, Salem). Revisions would amend the 2009 Sil- ver Falls Parks Plan and govern recreational use for the next two decades. “This is the public’s op- portunity to provide input on how the trails system currently functions for them or their user group,” said David Stipe, planning and design manager for the Oregon Parks and Rec- reation Department. “It’s people’s chance to tell us what they think.” No major changes are planned for the waterfalls section of the park, Stipe said, although the depart- ment will take comment on it. The meeting will focus mostly on tweaks to trails in the park’s remote south- eastern section, an area frequented by mountain bikers and equestrians. Both groups volunteer time and resources to building and maintaining trails at Silver Falls, but the contrasting styles of recreation have some- times kept the groups at odds. “The need for this up- date came to light as a re- sult of issues between mountain bikers and equestrians during the last recreation season,” Stipe said. “Both user groups have come to us with concerns and desires for the future.” The most high-profile concern, according to the Silver Falls Chapter of Oregon Equestrian Trails, was the recently complet- ed Catamount Trail. The group said the trail was originally designated for horseback riding but Every Student Succeeds Act; Reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act (school lunch funds); Per- kins Career & Technical Education Act; and Feder- al funding for Education, particularly the Individ- uals with Disabilities Edu- cation Act (IDEA). The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act is particularly critical to schools in Oregon. This law provides assistance to rural counties and schools affected by the decline in revenue from timber har- vests on national forest lands. Federal funding un- der this law has declined significantly in recent years: Oregon school dis- tricts received $30 million in 2009; $13.15 million in 2015. Nationally, pay- ments have dropped from $300 million to $50 mil- lion. Marion County re- ceived $524,202.30 for schools in 2015. Both senators Wyden and Merkley have been strong advocates for this law and assured us they will continue fighting for Oregon’s schools, accord- ing to the Oregon Depart- ment of Education. Special education (IDEA) funding was also a critical focus of our dis- cussion. Initially (the law was passed in 1975), Con- gress promised 40 per- cent of funding to schools for serving students with disabilities; currently we receive 16 percent of the costs from the federal that instead, OPRD worked with another group to create a trail de- signed for mountain bik- ers. “There was a lot of blowback when Cata- mount came in,” said Ellen Carter, treasurer of the equestrian group. “It had originally showed up on the master plan as a horse trail, and parks didn’t let us know that the plan had changed.” Stipe said the Cata- mount incident was an “oversight” and that park officials had jumped at the chance to work with the Salem Area Trail Alli- ance, a nonprofit that funded and did much of the volunteer work in cre- ating Catamount Trail. “Park staff engaged an enthusiastic and available user group but missed the equestrian use designa- tion in the plan when mov- ing forward with the pro- ject,” Stipe said in an email. “This oversight is one reason for the need to update the trails sections in the adopted parks plan.” In planning the future, Stipe said one proposal could be limited use desig- nations for the trails. One section could be mountain bike and hiker only, while another might be eques- trian and hiker only, he said. Other tweaks could in- clude adding directional restrictions, which might permit mountain bikes to only ride uphill in a given direction. That might help equestrians worried about mountain bikers speeding downhill, coming around the corner and startling a horse, Carter said. “Our biggest thing is just the speed,” she said. “We can deal with a deer jumping out of the bushes, but what’s worrying is someone coming around the corner really quickly. “Overall, our hope is to reduce conflicts and just be able to feel relaxed government. All of Ore- gon’s Congressional rep- resentatives are in favor of increasing this and, we were told, currently this has bipartisan support in Congress. There is also strong support from each of our Congress members for career and technical education programs in our schools including con- tinuing the federal fund- ing through the Perkins C&TE Act. While we had positive conversations with our Congressional delegation, the “temperature” in gen- eral in Washington was tepid in terms of what can be expected from the Trump administration re- garding public education. It was noted several times that Trump is following through on his campaign promises very quickly. If that holds true for his campaign stance on pub- lic schools (in his inaugu- ral address he stated that public schools were “flush with cash” and our children were “deprived of all knowledge”) there could be dire conse- quences ahead for fund- ing for critical programs for our most vulnerable learners. There was also a uni- versal negative opinion among the school board members about Betsy De- Vos’ nomination for edu- cation secretary. DeVos’ nomination causes me a high level of concern because of the “school choice” conversa- tion. We heard from sev- eral speakers at the ad- vocacy institute discuss- ing the strengths and weaknesses of private/ charter schools in states that provide school choice through vouch- ers, etc. There is good ef- ficacy research now and basically it reveals that private/charter schools are no better or worse than public schools; they work for some kids sometimes. However, to divert public funds to private schools without the same accountability public schools must ad- here to is a major con- cern and certainly un- fair to our public schools. For instance, in private schools, if a stu- dent isn’t successful, they “transfer” out; in our public high schools, they are counted as “dropouts.” And, when they “transfer” from a private school and enter a public school, the funds do not follow the student – an additional financial burden public schools must bear. Tass Morrison of Sub- limity is a member of the North Santiam School District Board of Direc- tors and vice president of the Oregon School Board Associations Board of Directors. She can be reached at tass.morri son@nsantiam.k12.or.us. Women organize book giveaway to celebrate the ‘love of reading’ CHRISTENA BROOKS SPECIAL TO THE APPEAL TRIBUNE Celebrating “the love of reading” in February, two local women are organizing a free book give- away for all kids at the community dinner on Wednesday, Feb. 15. Every Wednesday night, the First Christian Church and volunteers from around the Silverton area provide dinner to hundreds of local people. Many are children; so Lisa Morris and Rebecca Kuenzi, both mothers and educators, plan to give each child at next week’s dinner a free book of their choice. All are brand-new and range from board books for babies to chapter books for teen- agers. Morris and Kuenzi sell for Usborne Books and have donated their commissions to the giveaway. Now they are seeking donors to help buy the books at cost; Usborne will also match all donations at 50 percent. Contribute online at https://www.you caring.com/silvertoncommunitydinner- kids-741121 or in person through Silverton Friends Church. Donations made through the church are tax deductible. “Book ownership is so important and empower- ing for children,” Morris said. “We want to bless these children by offering them the free gift of an Usborne book in addition to dinner.” The pair hopes to make the book giveaway a monthly event, if donations meet costs. The free community dinners are held every Wednesday at First Christian Church, 402 N. First Street, from 5 to 7 p.m. Investing is about more than money. At Edward Jones, we stop to ask you the question: “What’s important to you?” Without that insight and a real understanding of your goals, investing holds little meaning. Contact your Edward Jones fi nancial advisor for a one-on-one appointment to discuss what’s really important: your goals. www.edwardjones.com Member SIPC LOCAL ADVISORS Salem Area Vin Searles Jeff Davis Keizer Area Surrounding Area Sheryl Resner Bridgette Justis FINANCIAL ADVISOR FINANCIAL ADVISOR FINANCIAL ADVISOR FINANCIAL ADVISOR Mission | 503-363-0445 Liberty | 503-581-8580 Keizer | 503-304-8641 Sublimity | 503-769-3180 Michael Wooters Garry Falor Mario Montiel Tim Yount FINANCIAL ADVISOR FINANCIAL ADVISOR FINANCIAL ADVISOR FINANCIAL ADVISOR South | 503-362-5439 West | 503-588-5426 Keizer | 503-393-8166 Silverton | 503-873-2454 Derek Gilbert Chip Hutchings Walt Walker FINANCIAL ADVISOR FINANCIAL ADVISOR Commercial | 503-362-9699 Lancaster | 503-585-4689 FINANCIAL ADVISOR Stayton | 503-769-4902 Caitlin Davis Tim Sparks FINANCIAL ADVISOR FINANCIAL ADVISOR West | 503-585-1464 Commercial | 503-370-6159 PHOTO COURTESY OF OPRD A proposed trail map for Silver Falls State Park will be open for comment at a meeting Wednesday in Salem. when we ride. I think we can all get along if we’re willing to listen to what other people want.” Beth Dayton, a moun- tain biker and lead with Salem Area Trail Alliance, agreed. “This is a golden oppor- tunity for all interested parties to think outside the box and dream of what the backcountry trails could become that would better suit the needs of all users,” she said in an email. For more information about the meeting, contact Stipe at 503-986-0740 or david.stipe@oregon.gov. Zach Urness has been an outdoors writer, pho- tographer and videogra- pher in Oregon for eight years. He is the author of the book “Hiking Southern Oregon” and can be reached at zurness@Statesman Journal.com or (503) 399- 6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors. OR-0000385379 Michael Kim DDS “Your friendly local dentist” New Patients & Emergencies Welcome Cosmetic Implant Bridges/Partials Extractions Crowns/Fillings Root Canals ENTER FOR OUR MONTHLY KINDLE DRAWING AT EACH APPOINTMENT WE ACCEPT MOST INSURANCE GETTY IMAGES A focus of Wednesday’s meeting will be resolving issues between mountain bikers and equestrians, two groups that have sometimes found conflict over trail use at the state park. 410 Oak St, Silverton, OR, 97381 503-873-3530 kimsilvertonordentist.com