viewpoint
BY RACHAEL CARNES
Vote Yes on 20-182
Or get ready for 23,000 truants tagging
your fence
Traditional Greek & Indian Food
Taking Care of Your Four-Legged Family for Over 30 Years
Full Service Clinic:
• Well Pet Care
• Orthopedic Surgery
• Cancer Management
• Behavior Consultations
• Dental Care
I
attended public schools in Eugene and received
not just an adequate education, but a terrifi c
education, from elementary through high
school. Lucky me, I squeaked through the
system before 1990’s contentious Measure 5
kneecapped this state’s educational funding.
Measure 5 established distribution limits on
property taxes on real estate, and transferred the
funding for schools from local government to the state
level. Its proponents, those commercial business owners and developers who
stood to benefi t, hailed Measure 5 as an “equalizer” — all the way to the bank.
Now, fi nally, there’s dialog in Salem about the failures of Measure 5. And
as the Legislature bats around the idea of change, do we sit idly by and
wait? No, we do what we can, as a town, to say “You know what, that didn’t
work, but while y’all are working this out, we’ve got kids that need to go to
school, and schools that need to be able to teach.”
Measure 20-182 doesn’t attempt to fi x 20 years of deep cuts to education.
Instead, it simply asks the community — you and me — to restore school days
and keep class sizes where they are. School days and class sizes. That’s it.
But you don’t have kids in the schools, you’re on a fi xed income, you
don’t want to pay for such piffl e. OK, how about this scenario: When Eugene
is known as a place with a four-day school week, when we are known for
our classrooms stuffed to the capacity the fi re marshal will allow, what will
happen to our property values? Will we attract new businesses to our area?
Will we retain professional families that pump dollars into the local economy?
See, I’ve run the numbers, and though Measure 20-182 will cost me about
the same as the local daily paper, it’s a bargain compared to the $100 per
day I’ll have to spend on childcare for my two young kids for each of the
proposed furlough days next year. Let’s see, they’re talking about up to 18
furlough days ... basic math ... That’s almost $2,000 smackers to have Katie
the furloughed teen watch my furloughed kindergartener and fourth grader
while I go to work. Hmm, “Citizens for Jobs” — do you mean babysitting jobs?
We had been scratching our heads about our family budget — how to
pony up for furlough daycare — and then at City Club on Friday, the leading
opponent to Measure 20-182, Jennifer Solomon, said “It takes a village to
raise a child,” and that really got me thinking.
So, I am wondering, Jennifer: Will you watch my kids?
And when you’re looking after them, I’d really appreciate it if you could
make sure they get their academics, you know, reading, writing, math, science,
social studies, history, oh, and music and PE. They’ll need breakfast and lunch
(for many kids in our town, the breakfast and lunch they receive at school is
their only reliable food source) and please provide adequate measures of their
success in the forms of quizzes, tests, essays, wall charts, dioramas, etc. (But
do your planning and grading on your own time. The kids are #1!)
Actually, come to think of it, I have a lot of friends who won’t be able to
work, either, unless we fi nd someplace to watch all of our school-age kids
on these furlough days. Hmm, what to do? Quit our jobs? Get fi red? Do you
know anyplace where I can work full time that doesn’t mind me missing work
one day every week? Can I work for you? Do you have on-site childcare?
How about this: If you’re opposed to Measure 20-182, the least you can
do is open your home or business to kids on furlough days. You can handle
35 elementary kids at a time, right? Or 50 high schoolers?
Measure 20-182 isn’t about fancy programs or extras. It’s about unlocking
the doors to the school so that children can learn. That’s why I am voting yes.
P.S. Oh, by the way, Jennifer, I almost forgot, we’re gonna need to get
your criminal background check.
Rachael Carnes is a working mother of two whose daily schedule is a precarious house of cards. When she is
not doling out bunny crackers, she consults internationally on the subject of creativity and its impact on brain
development. But, given the current climate, she is considering throwing that in the bin in favor of collecting
bottles and using them to buy scratch-its.
Cameron Jones, DVM
Barbara Maki, DVM
Cary Heyward, DVM
Appointments Available 8am-6pm Weekdays 9am-4pm Saturday
info@amazonparkvet.com • 541-485-0161 • 725 E. 25th Ave. Eugene
6 MAY 5, 2011 EUGENE WEEKLY
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM