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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 2017)
OPINION 6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017 Founded in 1873 DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager OUR VIEW Diffi cult decisions await legislators on education issues regon legislators are in quandary — their table is fi lled with a projected $1.6 billion defi cit despite record revenues, and they face the stiff challenge of crafting a balanced budget that also meets demands from voter-approved measures from last November’s general election. Three statewide measures approved by voters with over- whelming margins carry a collectively hefty sticker price of about $363 million through the two-year budget cycle. Two of those have a direct impact on education funding. Measure 96 is a constitutional amendment which passed with a whopping 83 percent voter approval and mandates 1.5 percent of net lottery proceeds, or about $9.5 million a year, be dedi- cated for veterans services. The Legislature cannot change that mandate and is required to fully fund it. Measures 98 and 99, though, were statutory education initia- tives rather than constitutional amendments. Even though each passed by a 2 -to-1 margin, the laws enacted through the two measures are subject to legislative change, and mostly likely will be because without new tax revenue they would siphon already limited funds available for pre-existing educational needs. Measure 98 was aimed at dropout prevention and increas- ing graduation rates with more vocational and technical educa- tion and college prep for students. It has a $150 million annual cost, or roughly $800 per high school student, if fully funded. Measure 99 directed the Legislature to use up to $22 mil- lion a year from lottery proceeds to provide stable funding for Outdoor School. Lottery proceeds already partially fund education and also earmarks money for statewide economic development. It’s probable the veterans services mandate and any Outdoor School funding will tap into the money set aside for economic devel- opment rather than cut into the limited lottery pie used for education. Legislators say funding for Measure 98’s implementation is far more troublesome. As state Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, told The Associated Press, “The voters indeed have spoken on this issue. But they spoke without writing a check.” In Gov. Kate Brown’s suggested budget, she proposed cut- ting the $300 million for Measure 98 in half, while the legis- lative budget co-chairs have proposed trimming it by a third. While the money for veterans services is mandatory, the other two measures remain alive and whole, too. Last week, amid legislative maneuvers as a deadline for action passed, an effort in the House kept Measure 98 funding intact while a move in the Senate backed by the teachers’ union to turn it into an optional grant failed — a least for now. The fi nal decision on fund- We’d like ing won’t be determined for to see that some time, and no doubt there funding be will be plenty of maneuvering still to come. We’d like to see directed that funding be directed as vot- as voters ers demanded, but we also realize the harsh budget reality legislators demanded, are facing. We’ve also advocated but we strongly for controls on spending. also realize While legislators begin the pro- cess of cutting costs they should the harsh be looking hard at the larg- budget est expenses of health care and the bloated Public Employees reality Retirement System. As we advo- legislators cated Tuesday, those costs must be controlled for Oregon’s long-term are facing. fi nancial health. Importantly, though, state lead- ers — and most certainly Gov. Brown — need to show lead- ership by reaching out to Oregon businesses, corporations and organizations which pledged to be supportive of more equita- ble business taxes when the corporate tax proposed in Measure 97 was defeated and when state expenses are brought under control. Legislators, together with the public employee unions, need to rein in the PERS costs. It’s time to initiate those talks now rather than later. Oregonians have too much at stake to lose — now and in the future — for the status quo to remain intact. Getting business and the unions involved in revenue gener- ation and cost cutting is a solution sitting on the table with the potential of solving the perplexing problems all Oregonians will face when legislators start making the tough decisions of whit- tling state services and programs, including the educational ini- tiatives the voters overwhelmingly said are needed. It’s time for our political leaders to invite everyone to take their seats. O Unspoken collateral damage of Trump cuts By JOANNE RIDEOUT Special to The Daily Astorian I f you’re someone who likes pub- lic radio, you may be concerned about plans to cut federal fund- ing for public media, and wondered what it might mean for you. Proposed cuts to the federal bud- get under Presi- dent Donald Trump would take away funding for a federal agency called the Corporation for Public Broad- casting. CPB distributes tax dollars to services like PBS, NPR and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. It’s the “among oth- ers” I want to talk with you about. What most national news reports don’t tell you, and what Congress may not even realize, is that among the big Beltway players in this polit- ical game are hundreds of small, nonprofi t community radio stations around the nation, mostly in rural areas. They also receive some fed- eral money to keep the lights on and programs fl owing on the airwaves. They would see drastic cuts if CPB goes. Stations like Astoria-based Coast Community Radio, where I’m the station manager, will be among the unspoken collateral damage. Coast Community Radio is known locally, and fondly, as KMUN. You’ll fi nd our diverse pro- gramming at 91.9 FM in Clatsop County, the Long Beach Peninsula, and surrounding areas. In Tillamook County, we’re called KTCB at 89.5, and you can hear lots of classical music with us at 90.9 in the Warren- ton and Astoria area. Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Pam Trenary hosts her Wednesday evening jazz show at Coast Community Radio in Astoria. The station is member supported . us a welcome companion in many households. All of that might be written off as inessential fl uff in some people’s eyes, were it not for the Big Kahuna of public services that only commu- nity radio can provide: real-time, live information in emergencies of all kinds: things like school closures, power outages, car accidents that block roads, weather emergencies and natural disasters. This is perhaps the most import- ant and wide-ranging community service we provide, and the most overlooked at the federal level. While law enforcement and other fi rst responders can talk to one another via radio, they cannot talk directly to you. When it comes to radio, they can only do that through licensed radio stations, because the Federal Communications Commis- sion has granted organizations like ours the right to broadcast over the airwaves to the general public. Member supported Emergency response Member supported, volunteer operated: that’s the community radio model. We’ve been around for 34 years. The voices you hear on the air are your friends and neighbors. Peo- ple you know, maybe run into in the supermarket. Maybe even you. A joke I heard around Astoria years ago is that if you put any 20 people here on the coast in a room together, 10 of them are, or have been in the past, volunteer program- mers at KMUN. That’s the kind of place we are. What do stations like KMUN give back to communities in exchange for tax dollars? Plenty. International, national and local news; local public affairs; creative music programming; spoken word; community calendar info; live broad- casts of major events like the Fish- erPoets Gathering and the Astoria Music Festival, and more. The per- sonal nature of our broadcasts makes Broadcast radio is free, and all you need is a simple, inexpensive radio to hear local, up-to-date infor- mation in an emergency. No cell- phone needed, no computer, no i nter- net, no electrical power. If you’ve lived here very long, you know we can lose all these services in a bad storm. If the lights go out, just put in some batteries, turn on your radio and we’re there. What matters then is that you get the help you need. Because of the unique niche com- munity stations like ours occupy in the broadcast world, we can remain live on the air with real people 24/7 if circumstances require it. We can help you out with everything from the personal emergency of a lost pet, to larger community threats like a severe storm or tsunami event. While we occasionally have our own issues with aging equipment that knock even us off the air for short periods — we’re quickly back at it again. Our commitment is long term, real and proven: we have done all these things — and want to do them again for you — when emergencies hap- pen one more time in this dynamic area on the edge of the world. We do our work on a shoestring: we joke about duct tape and gum, but it’s pretty much true. CPB mon- ies make up about a third of our rev- enue. Last year we received about $116,000 in federal support. If that federal money goes, we’ll have to look to you, our listeners, to replace that support, and help us keep going. That means we’d be asking even more of you than we already have. In a rural, low-income community like ours, we know that’s asking a lot. Especially when Amer- icans already overwhelmingly sup- port the modest use of their tax dol- lars to partially fund services like ours. To the tune of a whopping $1.35 per taxpayer, per year. What it really means is that Con- gress is asking you to pay twice for something most of you already said “yes” to. They just decided to use the money for something else you didn’t ask for. Like maybe a wall. That wall won’t come in too handy here on the coast when the Big One hits, and the public service you relied on to be available for you just isn’t there, thanks to partisan squabbling. Soon, Congress and the p resi- dent will make big decisions about the federal budget. If what I’ve writ- ten here strikes a chord with you, please make your voice heard to your elected offi cials, and let them know you want your tax dollars to go toward something that will actu- ally help you when you need it. In the meantime, we at KMUN will be doing our best to plan for a future that still has community radio in it. With your help we’ll make it. Joanne Rideout is the gen- eral manager of Coast Community Radio. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY? 100 words for 100 days of Trump The Daily Astorian Saturday marks 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency. To mark the occasion, we’re asking readers to sub- mit 100 words on the presi- dent’s fi rst 100 days. Whether it’s about the man, his policies, his approach to the offi ce or his accomplishments, we’d like to share your take. Email your thoughts to news @dailyastorian.com or drop them off at the Astoria offi ce at 949 Exchange St. or the offi ce in Seaside at 1555 N. Roosevelt. Please include a phone number and city of res- idence so we can verify your identity. The deadline is Friday at noon. And be concise — 100 words goes fast. AP Photo
