NEWS
• Warren Weisman of Eugene-based
renewable energy start-up Hestia Home
Biogas tells us the home biogas digester
manufacturer has been invited to audition for
the hit TV show ABC’s Shark Tank. Hestia’s
biodigester tanks, which convert compost into
“clean-burning renewable energy,” are
manufactured in Vancouver, Washington, and
metal work is fabricated in Eugene by Chandler
Metal Works. Weisman says Hestia has
“passed the initial application process and
demo video selection process for Shark Tank
and is in the process of video pitch coaching
prior to taping in Los Angeles. The appearance
would be for season eight, beginning fall of
2016. The show does not notify contestants of
an air date until two weeks prior to airing.”
• Studio One Café south of the UO campus
has been closed since December 2015 for
remodeling of its kitchen. Owner Anthony
McCabe says on social media that
improvements have taken much more time
than expected and that he appreciates
patience from the community as the breakfast
spot finishes its updates. There is no official
reopening date set.
• Oregon tech companies SheerID and
Concentric Sky traveled to Washington, D.C.
with tech companies from around the U.S. for
ACT The App Association’s App Economy
Conference. Katie Keller of SheerID tells us
that the company’s co-founder and CEO, Jake
Weatherly, and Concentric Sky President Cale
Bruckner, “will spend three days with senior
members of Congress discussing contentious
issues that plague companies across the U.S.
and in Oregon.” The challenges include
encryption and security, government access
to online communications and the need for
computer science education in our schools,
Keller says. Also heading to the nation’s capitol
is Eugene-based entrepreneur Ben Garney of
The Engine Company. Garney won a trip to the
conference at the February “Hack for a Cause”
event organized by the Technology Association
of Oregon.
• HIV Alliance is welcoming new staff and
board members. Vincent Mays and Emily
Farrell join the board of directors. The nonprofit
also hired new staff, including a new program
director, Amanda McCluskey, and a new
prevention manager, Tyler Boyet. HIV Alliance
provides care coordination and advocacy
services for people living with HIV/AIDS in 11
Oregon counties. Its mission is to help
individuals living with HIV/AIDS and prevent
new infections.
POLLUTION UPDATE
Oregon Department of Environmental
Quality (DEQ) assessed a civil penalty of
$6,600 against Maryland-based W.R. Grace &
Co. – Conn. on April 6 for illegally transporting
thousands of pounds of hazardous waste
from a Portland warehouse to a Grace
manufacturing facility in Albany in May of last
year. Grace can appeal the penalty, pay it, or
offset it by implementing a “supplemental
environmental project.” DEQ is currently
accepting comments on erosion control plans
for two Eugene construction projects: Seneca
Sawmill’s log yard (comments due April 21)
and McKenzie Deerhorn Estates (east of
Walterville; comments due May 2). Visit goo.
gl/Yp4iAK for more information on
commenting.
Doug Quirke/Oregon Clean Water Action Project
10
A pril 21, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
BY AMY SCHNEIDER
2016 INITIATIVE PETITIONS
TACKLE K-12 EDUCATION
O
regon educators say that K-12 school funding is in
crisis mode. From dwindling high school graduation
rates to booming elementary school class sizes, Or-
egon kids have endured years of underfunding.
Though many in education agree that schools need
more money, there’s less consensus about how to acquire those
funds.
Perhaps that’s why Oregon has three education-related ini-
tiative petitions circulating this year. Initiative petitions, or IPs,
are citizen-generated proposals that need a set number of sig-
natures to qualify as a measure on the November ballot, when
Oregonians vote for or against the measure.
IP 28, IP 65 and IP 67 all target K-12 education, but not
all initiative petitions are created equal, and the campaigns for
each petition don’t seem to be working closely together.
EW spoke with proponents of each campaign to explore the
overlaps between them.
IP 28, also known as A Better Oregon, represents the
weightiest of the three petitions.
If passed, IP 28 could gener-
ate about $5 billion each bien-
nium (with around $2 billion
for education every two years)
by increasing taxes on corpora-
tions doing business in Oregon
that make $25 million or more
in sales [See “Our Kids Deserve
Better,” Feb. 25 issue].
Proponents of IP 28 say
that it’s the only viable solu-
tion to Oregon’s ongoing fund-
ing problem, and that by taxing
businesses with sales of more
than $25 million, the measure
would target mostly out-of-
— TA D S H A N N O N ,
state corporations while sparing
small businesses. The petition is
backed by Our Oregon and the
Oregon Education Association
(OEA), among other organizations.
Tad Shannon, president of the Eugene Education Associa-
tion (EEA), says signature-gathering is well underway — EEA
was the first local teachers union in Oregon to meet its signa-
ture goal.
EEA is “close to 6,000 signatures, so we’re finding enthusi-
asm from people when we explain what the measure is about,”
Shannon says. The Better Oregon campaign has collected
around 88,000 signatures statewide, with a goal of 126,000 by
July 8.
Detractors of IP 28, including the Oregon Business Asso-
ciation and the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, say that
businesses would simply pass along the cost of the tax to the
consumer. Critics also say that once the money is added to Or-
egon’s general fund, there is no guarantee that legislators will
spend it on education.
Shannon says that if the measure passes, the union’s goal
will shift to “making sure that the Legislature appropriates the
money according to the wishes of the electorate.”
Local legislators, including Rep. Phil Barnhart, have indi-
cated that they’re supportive of IP 28.
While IP 28 generates additional funds, the other two peti-
tions direct pre-existing funds toward specific uses.
IP 65, also known as Oregonians for High School Success,
would establish the High School Graduation and College and
Career Readiness Fund, funneling money from the general
fund to accomplish three goals: the implementation of drop-
out prevention strategies, more access to college-level courses
and the establishment of career and technical education (CTE)
programs.
“Three out of four high school graduates who go to com-
munity college have to take remedial classes in either Eng-
lish, math or both,” says Joy Marshall, Lane County direc-
tor of Stand for Children Oregon, an education nonprofit that
backs the petition. “This is a real de-motivator and they tend
not to finish. We want to immediately address that.”
Marshall points to Oregon Department of Education data
showing that in the Bethel School District, high school stu-
dents who take CTE courses have an on-time graduation rate
of 90.5 percent, compared to the district’s average of 70.4
percent. She says IP 65’s “proven programs that work for
kids” could help Oregon achieve higher graduation rates.
The measure, if passed, would allocate $800 per high
school student per year, which amounts to $282 million in
the 2017-2019 biennium. IP 65 has the support of former
Gov. Ted Kulongoski, the Eugene/Springfield NAACP, La-
tino Network and other organizations, and Marshall says the
campaign is on track to collect enough signatures to qualify
for the ballot.
IP 65 does not, however,
have the support of the Oregon
Education Association.
“While we all support tech-
nical education at the high
school level, [IP 65] doesn’t
create any new revenue to pay
for it, so it takes out of the
general fund a sizeable chunk
of money and ear marks it to
high school,” Shannon with
the EEA says.
He adds, “If you’ve been
following local school board
meetings, parents are con-
stantly complaining about
EEA PRESIDENT
class size at the elementary
level. [IP 65] takes away lo-
cal control from the district by
telling districts to spend mon-
ey in a certain way.”
Marshall says that Stand for Children Oregon has not tak-
en a position on IP 28 yet, but adds that “Oregonians are used
to seeing a large number of ballot measures, and I don’t think
they interfere with each other.”
The third petition, IP 67, or Save Outdoor School for All,
aims to bring a week of outdoor education to every fifth and
sixth grader in Oregon. Only half of Oregon students have
access to outdoor school, the campaign says.
“We’ve heard from adults of all ages who say it changed
the trajectory of their lives,” says strategist Paige Richardson
with the outdoor school campaign. “They saw themselves as
teachers or scientists for the first time. It’s a really powerful
program.”
Funding for this program would come from unallocated
lottery funds, leaving funds for public education, parks and
natural areas, and gambling addiction intact.
“We’re not saying that other extracurricular activities
aren’t important,” Richardson says. “But Outdoor School is
for all kids of all abilities, and when we get full funding, it
will be for all kids in all districts.”
Stand for Children Oregon and the OEA have not yet taken
a position on IP 67.
However, in the teachers union’s view, “IP 28 is the most
important measure because it deals significantly with the rev-
enue problem we’ve been struggling with since 1990, and it’s
the only one that will make a meaningful difference in our
schools,” Shannon says. “That is priority number one.”
IP 28 is ‘the only
one that will make
a meaningful
difference in our
schools.’