viewpoint
BY MARY DEMOCKER
Why You Benefit
From educating my little tax deductions
C
hosen sides in Eugene’s school tax fi ght? There’s no neutrality
option, sorry. In the “yes” corner: parents, education advocates and
kids. In the “no” corner: Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the national
right-wing Tea Party-affi liate whose Eugene chapter named themselves —
get ready — Citizens for Jobs and Schools.
The stakes? A “yes” retains 100 teachers, preventing the addition of four
to seven kids per class, and restores lost instructional days. A “no” (or non-
vote) allows the deepest cuts and — importantly — furthers AFP’s agenda.
AFP has declared our local measure a priority for their foot soldiers to defeat.
Why? Funded by the mega-rich Koch brothers, AFP isn’t only against new
taxes; they want education privatized, and hope Measure 20-182’s defeat
helps open the door for trampling public schools. AFP wants unregulated
free enterprise, and works to destroy unions, health care programs, NPR,
NEA, consumer and environmental laws, and public education. If that alone
isn’t enough for you to crayon “yes!” across your ballot, here are 12 reasons
why supporting Measure 20-182 benefi ts you.
• Bored kids probably won’t TP your house on furlough days. If they’re
in school and have good opportunities, they’ll be busy heading toward their
own prosperity.
• My kids will pay your Social Security. Dream away about shuffl eboard,
RV-ing, Medicare — all at my kids’ expense because you helped them get
decent educations, which will help them fi nd jobs.
• Eugene’s school violence risk will be lowered. Researchers advocated
anti-bullying and violence prevention programs after the nation was
shaken by several school shootings — including here at Thurston. Dr.
Scott Poland, an internationally recognized expert on school violence
prevention, states, “We need to build connections between students and all
adults and, very importantly, their schools ... [and] take care of [students’]
social and emotional welfare. We need to build relationships with every
student. It’s not just Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. There’s a fourth ‘R’ —
Relationship.” How can teachers “build relationships” with so danged many
children? Eugene’s impending closure of six schools will dismantle several
communities, making it even more critical to hold the line on overcrowding.
Students will be safer. Period.
• Your neighbors will yell less. Families are distressed by closings and
cuts. Michelle Obama’s quote speaks for most moms: “I’m only as happy
as my most unhappy child.” Reasonable classes make families happier, and
that means better neighborhoods.
• Your town won’t go down the toilet. One hundred laid-off teachers can
contribute to a downward spiral in burdened social services, decreased
revenue and depressed housing prices. Measure 20-182 tells potential
investors and business relocation prospects that Eugene is still committed
to world-class schools. Economic consultants ECONorthwest found that this
tax will be “a large net benefi t to the Lane County economy,” creating or
retaining 250 jobs.
• You can feel less embarrassed about Oregon. Only Missouri has fewer
instructional days — two — than Oregon. Without this tax, Eugene has three
fewer weeks than most states. Teachers must cover the same material
regardless of how many instructional days they’re given. Fewer days means
“teaching to the test” more than ever.
• Your town will remain autonomous. A “yes” vote tells out-of-state
conservatives to stay out of our local politics — and our schools.
• You’ll be distinguished from barbarians, defi ned as people “without
culture or education.” Barbarians miss basic concepts. For example,
individuals needn’t haul water from the Willamette because we worked
together to create EWEB. We’ve also created libraries, roads, parks, fi re
stations and Medicare. AFP calls this socialism. Most of us call it civilization.
• You’ll be a public education champion. AFP is targeting 20-182 to
advance its national anti-public education agenda. The rationale? If liberal
Eugene submits to AFP attacks, America might surrender to privatization.
Instead, hand public education a victory.
• You’re less likely to catch diseases. Without 20-182, there’ll be 31-plus
elementary students per class, nine more sneezers, coughers and nose-
pickers than in 2008. High school classes? Up to 57. Smaller classes means
fewer epidemics.
• You’ll avoid the worse evil. Yes, this measure is imperfect, but it’s the
only fi x left. It buys us time. Opponents offer absolutely nothing to prevent
those devastating cuts for 2011-12.
• You’ll feel good. Kids will feel good. Studies show people feel better
when they perform or even witness kindness. Our kids are watching to see
how much their needs matter. Wouldn’t it feel good to support them now,
and model one generation helping the next?
Mary DeMocker has two children in 4J schools. She can be reached at marydemocker@gmail.com
4 MAY 12, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
letters
TO THE EDITOR
TAPPED OUT
STOP THE BLEEDING
Jennifer Solomon and her rich friends
claim they are “tapped out” and just
can’t pay any more taxes. Since they are
“tapped out,” they are spending a fortune
to try to convince voters to reject the city
ballot measure to tax everybody a little bit,
in the same graduated categories the state
income tax uses, but at only a tiny fraction
of the state tax rate.
The rich people are claiming it’s
unfair because families with incomes
below $20,000 won’t have to pay the
tax. They want to tax families living in
poverty, wearing clothes from Goodwill,
with children eligible for free lunch and
breakfast at school. Some of these families
are living in cars or sleeping on the fl oors,
but Solomon and her friends want to make
them pay taxes.
Because people who don’t have any
money won’t pay this tax, Solomon wants
to withhold the money needed to keep the
schools open. The school year is already
full of holes. Children are going to school
three or four days a week and having
weekends that are just as long. They are
forgetting everything they’ve learned
during these long weekends.
At the same time, positions such as
librarians are now fi lled by instructional
aides who earn half the hourly wage of
teachers. They are expected to do the same
job in 15 hours a week that a few years ago
paid them for 25 hours. They work fi ve to
10 hours a week for free, rely on parent
volunteers and are not eligible for health
insurance.
A friend who works for a Eugene
elementary school as a library aide had a
heart attack. He has no health insurance. I
drove him to the VA hospital in Roseburg
because he refused to go to the Eugene
area hospitals because they would hound
him for the rest of his life to make him
pay. He survived the drive, but there is
more damage to his heart because of the
delay.
Who is “tapped out?” The ultra-rich
like Jennifer Solomon, or the public
employees without health insurance?
Ann Tattersall
Eugene
Our children need a solution to our
education emergency sooner rather than
later. The state will not help us with our
immediate crisis. Measure 20-182 is
a goodwill effort to plug the dike on a
hemorrhaging local, state and national
problem. For far too long schools have
been asked to cut, cut, cut. Now we
understand the consequences of cutting
beyond a reasonable point. Thus far, we
have been relatively immune to the slash-
and-burn techniques of many educational
reformers nationwide, but we must not
weaken our local schools so that they too
become easy prey for the teacher-blaming,
test-based curriculum and a corporate
charter school crowd seeking to privatize
this most sacred institution.
Our country was built upon the rock
of a public school system. Our democracy
needs a strong public school system. We
cannot afford to wait until the bottom falls
out before we act. Let us pass this measure
and then all work to rebuild a system
which should provide equal opportunity
for all, so that we can begin to ensure
liberty and justice for all. Education is the
soul of a society, and we ignore the souls
of our children at their peril, and ours.
Christopher Michaels
Eugene
CIVIC CASH COW
It’s hard to believe how short sighted
some people can be. The Civic Stadium
site is a cash cow waiting to be milked,
hopefully for the benefi t of all Eugene,
and here’s how. The City Council buys the
property from the 4J School District and
leases it short term to the Save Civic Sta-
dium group so they can use their nonprofi t
status to get grants and donations to repair
the historic bleachers. While they’re doing
that, local investors organize, buy a pro
soccer franchise (cheap at only $150,000)
and start building the new facilities.
Part of the site is leased long-term to
the Y so they can build their new digs.
In about two years, when the work is
done and the pro soccer club and other
entertainments are generating a handsome
income, the city sells the property at a
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