3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2017
Astoria students seek support for Walldorf exchange
Program on
hiatus last year
MORE INFORMATION
Visit the senior project
site at http://tinyurl.com/
yco6993g. Contact Schacher
about donations at 503-440-
8316 and mschacher18@
astoriak12.org
By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Two Astoria High School
seniors are raising money to
send students to Walldorf,
Germany, after the American
side of the exchange went on
hiatus last year for the fi rst
time since 9/11.
Andrew Schauermann and
Megan Schacher both have
German heritage and sib-
lings who have traveled on
the yearly exchange. Their
families host exchange stu-
dents each year. The two
were taken aback by last year,
when only one student could
go and the American side of
the exchange was canceled.
They are trying to raise at
least $20,000 by January to
help cover airfare, which can
be about half the cost of the
exchange.
Walldorf is the hometown of
Astoria namesake John Jacob
Submitted P hoto
From left, Andrew Schauermann, Jim Pierce and Megan Schacher are raising money and
gathering host families to resta rt the Astoria School District’s student exchange with
Walldorf, Germany.
Astor, whose American Fur Co.
founded Fort Astoria in 1811.
Walldorf and Astoria have been
sister cities since 1963.
Advising Schacher and
Schauermann is Jim Pierce,
a Warrenton Police Depart-
ment sergeant who has orga-
nized the trip to Germany for
the past 15 years, since his
daughter went.
“Last year, I’m not sure
what happened,” he said. “I
think the cost of the trip is
probably one of the most …
challenging portions of this
trip.”
Walldorf students receive
corporate
sponsorships
and support from the city’s
local chamber of commerce,
Schacher said, and only
pay about $1,000 to come
to America. Pierce tries to
keep the cost of the trip,
which includes 10 days in
Walldorf and touring sites
across Western Europe, at
around $2,500 per student.
But whether students can go
often depends on fundrais-
ing and families forking up
the travel costs.
“With Megan and Andrew
doing this project, we are
hoping to get some fundrais-
ers set up so students can help
pay for this trip,” he said.
“Some of the ideas are maybe
an individual money match,
or individual sponsorships,
where someone from the
community might help share
in the trip by helping them
singularly.”
Pierce pays his own way
to Germany each year, while
sponsoring a lower-income
student and part of a female
chaperone.
Since summer vacation,
Schauermann has been col-
lecting cans for deposit. He
and Schacher are organizing
fundraisers such as a Ger-
man dinner and silent auc-
tion. The two are also trying
to fi nd host families for the
exchange students arriving in
November.
About seven Astoria stu-
dents are interested in going
so far, but the goal is to get
at least 11 for discounted
airfare, Schacher said. The
exchange program prefers
Astoria students but is open
to families throughout the
county, Pierce said.
State says it’s too early to judge unpaid revenue collection efforts
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Five months
after Gov. Kate Brown
ordered the state to shore up
its debt collection practices,
the revenue department says
it’s too early to tell how
much money it’s brought in
as a result.
As of mid-2016, the state
was owed about $3.3 billion
in unpaid taxes, fees and
fi nes, according to a Decem-
ber analysis by the nonparti-
san Legislative Fiscal Offi ce.
About $600 million to
$800 million of that sum is
owed to the state’s general
fund, and 95 percent of that
is unpaid taxes, the g over-
nor’s o ffi ce said in April.
The governor also ordered
other state agencies to report
the money they’re owed to
the state’s c hief o perating
o ffi cer, as well as how much
of it is collectible.
As Oregon lawmakers
scrambled to balance the
state’s budget this legislative
session, they too renewed
efforts to collect some of
that money, pushing for
more oversight and hiring at
the Department of Revenue.
Although it can’t say
whether the governor’s
executive order has made an
impact, the revenue depart-
ment is preparing to imple-
ment a system that allows
state agencies to determine
whether vendors owe the
state money, said spokes-
woman Joy Krawczyk.
Using that system, the
revenue department can gar-
nish payments to vendors to
cover the debt.
The revenue depart-
ment is piloting the sys-
tem with the state Depart-
ment of Transportation. At
fi rst, the focus will be on
tax debt. If it’s successful,
the department will use it
when it helps collect debt
on behalf of other state and
local agencies.
The revenue department
— which is expected to col-
lect more than $20 billion in
revenue in the next two years
— has been plagued with
issues in the past decade,
many of them identifi ed by
multiple audits.
At the urging of the Leg-
islature, the department is
expected to undergo addi-
tional external and internal
reviews in the near future.
Krawczyk says the depart-
ment has met the report-
ing requirements laid out in
Brown’s executive order, and
is working on a report about
whether it’s feasible to pub-
licly post information about
the state’s debtors online, as
the governor has called for.
The agency is also work-
ing to recruit for and fi ll
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N e w
vacant positions, according
to director Nia Ray.
State agencies, under
another bill passed this session,
are now required to report debt
they write off to the Depart-
ment of Administrative Ser-
vices by Dec. 31 every year.
The Capital Bureau is a col-
laboration between EO Media
Group and Pamplin Media
Group.
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