may16 2019
VERNONIA’S
volume13 issue10
free
reflecting the spirit of our community
State Legislature Votes to
Approve Student Success Act
Vernonia Teachers Hold Brief Walkout
in Support of Education Funding
By Scott Laird
Vernonia School District teachers and some
staff took part in a statewide walkout on Wednesday,
May 8 in the hopes of sending a
message to legislators in Salem
that Oregon needs to provide
adequate funding for education
through passage of the Student
Success Act (HB 3427).
Oregon
legislators
seem to have heard the mes-
sage, and on Monday, May 13,
the Oregon Senate voted to ap-
prove the bill 18-11, a 2/3 ma-
jority which assured it will be-
come law.
The bill was not ap-
proved without a fight. HB 3427
was passed by the State House
and was awaiting action by the
State Senate on the day of the
statewide walkout by teachers.
Senate Republicans were insist-
ing that the legislature find a
solution to funding for the state
Public Employees Retirement
System (PERS) debt, if they al-
lowed a vote on school funding.
Oregon
Democratic
Senator Betsy Johnson from
Scappoose shared Republicans’
views on addressing the PERS
issue. “This was a very, very
difficult bill for me to support, because, while I am
very supportive of additional funding for education,
I’m also extremely cognizant of the fact that unless
the State does something about PERS, much of this
new money could be diverted to our unfunded liabil-
ity in PERS,” said Senator Johnson in a telephone
interview with Vernonia’s Voice on the day following
the Senate’s historic vote.
“We are standing in solidarity with the tens
of thousands of educators, public-school families,
and supporters today,” said Juliet Safier, president of
the Vernonia Education Association, in a brief state-
ment during the Vernonia teacher walkout on May 8.
inside
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vernonia springs
11
calling
vernonia artists
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vhs home
track meet
Bids for Classroom
Expansion Too High
“We are sending a message to Salem. They need to
fully fund education.”
“Education has been in a decades long cri-
sis,” said Safier. “Our urban schools have some of
the largest class sizes in the nation. Districts all over
the state have cut music and art programs. Oregon
has the third lowest graduation rate in
the nation. Oregon students deserve
better.”
HB 3427 establishes a Fund for Stu-
dent Success and specifies uses of the
fund. The program would be funded
through a tax on corporations operat-
ing in Oregon by taxing businesses at
a rate of 0.57% on their sales above
$1 million a year. Businesses could
subtract 35% of their labor or capi-
tal costs from their total sales before
calculating the tax. According to the
bill, Oregonians in the bottom three
tax brackets will qualify for a slight
tax break to offset any possible rise in the cost of
goods or services. State economists estimate the cor-
porate tax could generate $2 billion every two years
for education. The state’s largest business lobbying
organization, Oregon Business & Industry, has taken
a neutral stance on the bill.
While many teachers across the state did not
go to work on May 8 as part of the statewide action,
choosing to take part in rallies in Salem and Port-
land and forcing School Districts to cancel classes
for the day, Vernonia teachers took a different ap-
proach. Vernonia teachers and staff held a 15 minute
continued on page 14
Vernonia School District Superintendent Aaron
Miller had some bad news for the Vernonia School Board
at their May 9 meeting.
Miller told the Board that the bids for the con-
struction of a four classroom addition to the school cam-
pus were much higher than the District had budgeted for
the project.
The classroom expansion is part of the ambitious
list of projects the District had planned to accomplish with
funding generated from a tax bond approved by voters in
2017.
Miller says the District had $1.8 million to spend
on the project, based on estimates they had received prior
to the bond campaign. He said eight construction com-
panies participated in a pre-bid qualifying process, but
only two companies submitted actual bids. He said the
two bids the District received were for $2.5 million and
$3 million.
“At this point I am not confident we can complete
this project as designed,” said Miller “We need to go back
to the drawing board as far as the remaining funds and
the remaining projects we still have on the list that we
intended to accomplish with the bond money.”
The Bond passed in 2017 was for $6.8 million.
The District used $4.5 million of that to pay of debt from
the original campus construction that was crippling their
annual operational budget. The State of Oregon matched
the remainder of the community’s $2.3 million through
a special program. With that $4.6 million, the District
has built a new football field and track and field facility
on their campus, made needed repairs at the Mist School,
are getting ready to construct a new welding shop, and
planned to construct the four classroom addition.
“I’m really disappointed, but we were working
with estimated figures from several years ago, and we
were trying to work in a really tight construction market,”
said Miller.
Miller said the welding shop will also cost more
than was originally estimated, but will be completed for
the start of the next school year. “It’s a critical element for
our Career and Technical Education (CTE) program and
preparing our kids for their futures,” said Miller.
Miller told the Board he has some ideas about
how the District should move forward with the remaining
bond funds and proposed projects. The Board has sched-
uled a workshop on May 30 to discuss those options with
Miller. Miller said he would also like to include the com-
munity in the conversations about the Bond funding in
some way.
Vernonia Hosts Home Track Meet
The Vernonia School District
hosted a home track and field meet for
the first time in several decades. Teams
from Special District 1, along with a few
others took part in the event on May 2.
The District completed construction of
the new facility last year, which includes
long jump and triple jump pits, room for
high jump and pole vault, and space for
javelin, shot put, and discus throwing
events.
“The weather was perfect with
the temps in the mid 60s, and the event
was well attended,” said Vernonia head
coach John Roady. “We received several
compliments on how well the field looked
and how the meet was run. A big thank
you to all of the volunteers who helped
make it successful. I believe everyone
had a great time, and we hope to do even
better next year!”
See page 12 for results from the event
and page 19 for more photos.