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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1996)
Vol. XXX No. 8 “Cfac Print Wednesday, November 13,1996 Clackamas Community College Measure 47 + Measure 5 Laney Fouse Editor-in-Chief If John Keyser and the college administrators have their choice, cutbacks will not be the readily available answer to the effects ballot Measure 47 will have on Clackamas. The double-edged sword of the initiative was felt in last week’s general election when Or egonians voted to amend the state’s constitution to limit prop erty taxes. Measure 47 will cut taxes on every property in the state in 1997-98. It will also limit prop erty tax growth to three-percent per year, with some exceptions. Ironically, this measure passed by a fifty-two to forty-percent margin — the same margin as Mea sure 5. It carries both good news and bad news. Property owners breathed a sigh of relief at the good news since their property taxes will be declining. The bad news for educational institutions and city and county services is revenue from these taxes will be virtually lost. An informational session was held on Tuesday in Gregory Fo rum as a follow-up to a meeting of the President’s Council. Col lege President John Keyser felt it was necessary to discuss some of the principles and criteria to be used. “It is a very uncertain period and will probably continue to be uncertain until after the legislative body adjourns, which may not be until June [1997],” said Keyser. He observed this may be the toughest Session they have had in some time since the legislative body can keep extending their time of convention. Measure 47 is seen as “mi cro- management at its worst” and creates significant problems for a variety of groups when it comes down to dollars. Accord ing to Keyser, Governor John Kitzhaber has made “strong statements about back filling for education.” This includes com 9 munity colleges. One of the guiding assump tions is, “We [the college] have a problem.” Some correction will occur, although no major action will take place during 1996-97. Keyser stressed that no major cuts in programs or staff are planned; administrators will wait to see what happens at the state level before making any decisions. “I would guess that twenty- five to fifty-percent of the prob lem we know we have is the re sult of Measure 47. We projected next year we have about a $2 mil lion problem,” said Keyser. This figure is the result of tak ing the college’s strategic finan cial plan and putting in the new parameters of Measure 47. This is the projected amount beginning in July 1997. “The year after that, if we just take those parameters with no cor rections or anything, it’s more than that. It’s about a $2.5-million problem,” noted Keyser. The problem is not subjective to just public education but also to state and local-level public agencies. On a more positive note, the uncertainty surrounding this issue buys the time to develop budget guidelines. The administration plans to maintain as positive a momentum as possible. The main areas of focus will be continuing enrollment efforts, building the See Measure 47 on page 2 takes off Erin Bennett Business/Ad Manager The Clackamas campus shuttle has been in use for 22 days now and the statistics look dismal. The shuttle, which loops around the campus, was born out of students expressing their de sire to have transportation from the main part of the campus to Clairmont Hall. It leaves the Community Center at 8:45 a.m., 9:45, 10:45, 11:45, 12:45 p.m., 1:45 and 2:45. The shuttle begins at the Community Center near the bus stop, goes on to Barlow and stops near the parts department, continues to Clairmont and waits for about five minutes. From there, it goes to the Art Center, stopping at the ELC parking lot. It continues on to the FRC and then finishes at the Community Center. The total travel time is 20 minutes. Currently, the Student Activi ties fund is paying the costs for the gas and the two drivers hired to drive the shuttle. However, at the end of the term, some decisions about funding will be made. For the month of October, day totals ranged from 4 to 14 people using the shuttle. Rainy days were more popular than oth ers, yet even on those days, the totals were not very high. John Keyser moderated the discussion yesterday on the effects of Measure 47. Foundation gives child care $25,000 Christina Mueller Staff Writer The need for child care is growing rapidly and has become so strong that the Oregon Com munity Foundation has given Clackamas a $25,000 grant to coordinate child-care training classes in the metropolitan area. Three grants were given state wide in order to create and expand child care training programs across Oregon. Patricia Rust, work and fam ily instructor, is one of five in structors who will administer the training to students. The First By Five program con sists of four training modules: Learning and Development, Group Care, Social-Emotional Develop ment and Family/Provider Rela tionships. Each module is 12-hours long and is worth one ECE175 community college credit. The modules can be taken in any order. “We try to take the training to student, making it as accessible as possible,” says Rust. The classes are held at Clacka mas, Portland Community Col lege and a one-time weekend re treat in Tillamook. For each module there is a $10 fee in addition to the re quired $30 textbook, Infants, Toddlers, and Care Givers, by Eyer and Gonzales-Menza. “There is a set of curriculum that goes with each module;” Rust says. The curriculum is provided by Far West Laboratories, which is based in California. All material is research based. “We are very pleased with the Far West curriculum,” Rust shares. “Reading body language that tells me this is what the infant needs,” Rust begins, is something students will learn from the First By Five program. “They them selves [infants] are the best pre dictors of what they need.” Another key part of the pro gram is to bring care givers up to date information. It teaches what needs to be present in a child’s environment for learning to take place. “Parenting and care giving has definitely changed,” Rust says. The First By Five goal is to recruit and train 2,000 care givers by 1998. The class in structors based this goal on “how many classes could we feasibly teach and how many people would be interested,” says Rust. “As care givers become more educated, they can pass on what they’ve learned to parents,” Rust explains. She says it is beneficial to have a strong parent/care giver relation ship. Rust is confident this program will work and First By Five will meet its goal. “Care givers are very eager for information; they want to be good providers,” she says. “The pro gram also provides a nice place for them to come and talk to other care givers.” Rust thinks highly of the stu dents currently enrolled in the pro gram. “This is probably the most delightful group of people I’ve worked with,” she says. For more information on the First by Five program, contact Patricia Rust in the Family/Human Services Department at ext. 2525. Preschoolers in the Child Care center on campus will benefit from a $25,000 grant.
