A4
V IEWPOINT
Hood River News,
Saturday, March 14, 2015
O ur readers write
JOE PETSHOW
Publisher/President,
Eagle Newspapers, Inc.
TOM LANCTOT
Past President,
Eagle Newspapers, Inc.
CHELSEA MARR
General Manager
Question price
on carbon
KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
Editor
JODY THOMPSON
Advertising Manager
TONY METHVIN
Columbia Gorge Press Manager
DICK NAFSINGER
Publisher, Emeritus (1933-2011)
DAVID MARVIN
Production Manager
Subscription $42 per year in Hood River trade area. $68 outside trade area.
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
ASSOCIATION
OREGON NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Printed on
recycled paper.
Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County
Published Every Wednesday & Saturday by Hood River News,
P.O. Box 390, Hood River, Oregon 97031 • (541) 386-1234 • FAX 386-6796
Member of the Associated Press
Stop Scree
The slippery slope of school funding
A
ny hiker knows the feeling of climbing on
scree.
It’s the loose rocks or dirt that shift under-
foot and send boots slipping backward a few
inches – or feet – for every step taken.
Progress is slow and arduous, falls or injuries happen,
and the hiker tires as energy feels futilely expended.
Schools have been stuck on a funding scree for years.
It is time for some stability.
Investing in schools makes sound economic sense. A
well-educated workforce will be ever more critical in the
next five years. Continued support of engineering and sci-
ence programs in 2015 could have a positive support on the
local and state economy within just a few years, based on
rapid entry to the workforce by current high schoolers.
The letter-writing campaign by citizens, described on
page A1, is a noble effort and it is not too late for anyone
to get involved; four key addresses are provided below.
However, the time is long past for decision-makers to
find some solution to school funding that does not feel
like school administrators are sliding on slippery peb-
bles each year on a routine and frustrating incline.
At 37 percent each, property tax and personal income
taxes total more than two-thirds of the revenue used for
Oregon schools. Another 10 percent comes from taxes and
gross receipts including timber, and 12 percent from
“other”. That leaves the interesting little figure of 3 per-
cent: corporate income taxes.
If Oregon businesses and legislators are interested in
elevating the economy, they should look at all investment
options, including supporting schools financially now for
greater gains in a few years.
Back to that 3 percent corporate tax figure (2010). Ac-
cording to the U.S. Census bureau, the national average in
2010 was 3.4 percent. What if Oregon business interests de-
cided that agreeing to a phased-in increase until Oregon
comes up to that national average, was a modest way to
add education budget enhancements?
■
However you feel the state might scoop away the scree
and give schools firm footing, here are those four address-
es to let your legislators know:
Sen. Richard Devlin, co-chair, Ways and Means:
sen.richarddevlin@state.or.us
Rep. Peter Buckley, co-chair, Ways and Means:
rep.peterbuckley@state.or.us
Sen. Chuck Thomsen (Hood River):
sen.chuckthomsen@state.or.us
Rep. Mark Johnson (Hood River):
rep.markjohnson@state.or.us
Where does the City Council go
from here? There are countless places
they can find pet projects to raise
taxes, and don’t make any mistake,
this is a tax on citizens without their
consent, voted into place by four peo-
ple who say they represent us?
I had to read the whole story to find
out what they were trying to do and it
is finally spelled out at the end, “effi-
cient way to discourage use of fossil
fuels.” They never give us how much
per kilowatt, gallon or therm, etc., this
will add to the cost to the citizens they
represent, who will be the ones paying
this tax when it passes, and it will
pass in the halls of our state govern-
ment.
A few answers on the tax money we
are going to be paying. What will this
cost the city, county and state for each
of the fossil fuels they now use? How
will this discourage their use of these
fuels? What will be the service we are
now receiving from our governments
that they will eliminate as they are
discouraged from the use of fossil
fuels? Reduced employees, work
hours, etc. should be expected, I would
assume. Will these governments go
for a double tax on us to replace the
additional costs they will be paying
when they use these fuels?
Now the individual citizen, how
much will this cost for each of the
fuels to discourage our use of said
fuels? How does this help the problem
of people having to commute to the
city for their jobs by taxing them for
using a fuel to access their jobs? Make
sure to add on the additional taxes for
all the governments we will be paying
to replace that spent for their fuels.
Where will this money end up and
who will benefit? Why was this part of
the information not given in the news-
paper story — surely that must be one
of the main issues that was consid-
ered by the city council as they exer-
cised their Bully Pulpit?
Norman B. Holman
Hood River
Carbon tax
‘practical’
I appreciate Mike Teems, Jr.’s ef-
forts to “encourage conversation”
on the merits of a carbon tax (“Offer
Incentives,” March 4, 2015). The
need to take action on global warm-
ing is urgent. As Republican former
Secretary of State George Shultz
said recently, “The climate is chang-
ing. If you don’t like the science, use
your eyes.”
Also, at his MIT address he ar-
gued that a revenue-neutral carbon
tax is a good insurance policy.
(Google mit.edu, shultz-climate-
change.) In this proposal, green-
house gasses would be taxed from
where they originate (wellhead,
mine). The money raised would then
be distributed to citizens. Meaning,
the government would not take in
added revenue.
It is also called Carbon Fee and
Dividend (citizensclimatelobby.org).
The beauty of this proposal is that
it is national, nonpartisan, and prac-
tical. Everyone can get behind it. A
major study shows that it will gener-
ate thousands of good paying jobs. It
is a way we can demonstrate Ameri-
ca’s leadership worldwide, and it
will insure a good future for chil-
dren.
Will Congressman Greg Walden
stand up? As chair of the National
Republican Congressional Commit-
tee, he is in a key position to make it
happen, to co-sponsor this legisla-
tion. Surely he believes the science,
that there’s nothing more important
than insuring our children’s future.
Lawrence Jones
Hood Rive
Contact
legislators
Hood River County school district
is expecting yet another significant
budget cut, about $1 million. I am
asking each of you to contact the
listed state legislators to ask that no
budget cut be made this year.
Legislators have found it easy to
balance the state budget on the back
of K12 education. We have had a
budget cut each of the last seven
years and parents have come to ex-
pect this. K12 education has slipped
to 39 percent of the state budget
down from 45 percent in 2003. Other
constituencies are demanding and
receiving more funding and public
education is paying for this.
Here are some appalling statistics
for the proud Oregonian. We have
the second highest class size, rank
46th in funding education and we
rank 46th in the nation for on-time
graduation rates (dead last in 2013).
All Oregonians have a stake in
this. Parents and grandparents want
a bright future for their students.
Business needs a well-educated pub-
lic and the general economy will
slowly suffer as Oregonians can’t
compete with other states and busi-
nesses emigrate.
The irony of the current budget cut
is the state is anticipating the income
tax kicker rule to apply and will re-
fund tax dollars. The cup runneth
over, yet our district gets a $1 million
shortfall. The state has recently an-
nounced that it plans to have 100 per-
cent of its students graduate in 2025.
It is a nice goal but continued budget
cutting won’t get us there.
The current education budget is
on the fast track to be approved at
$7.2 billion. To prevent the current
budget cut, we need that number to
be $7.9 billion. Please contact the fol-
lowing and ask that they fund edu-
cation at $7.9 billion. Thank you.
Senator Richard Devlin Co-chair
Ways
and
Means
sen.richarddevlin@state.or.us, 503-
986-1719
Representative Peter Buckley, Co-
chair
Ways
and
Means
rep.peterbuckley@state.or.us, 541-
488-9180
Tina Kotek, House Majority
Leader, rep.tinakotek@state.or.us,
503-286-0558
Peter Courtney, Senate President,
sen.petercourtney@state.or.us, 503-
986-1600
Senator Chuck T hompsen,
sen.chuckthompsen@state.or.us,
503-986-1726
Representative Mark Johnson
rep.markjohnson@state.or.us, 503-
986-1452
Linda Gray
HRVHS Site Council Member
Parkdale
Help Oregon’s
K-12 Kids
The current 2015-17 K-12 budget
proposed by Salem is $7.2 billion, a
continued 10-year slide in funding
while requiring all-day kindergarten
(a good thing but requires funding).
Oregon K-12 ranks at the bottom na-
tionally (46th or worse) for student in-
struction time per year, high school
graduation rates, and dollar per pupil
spending. The 2015-17 budget pro-
posed by Salem will hit home again in
Hood River (and all of Oregon) with
continued reductions in teachers, pro-
grams, and services.
Are you satisfied with this state of
affairs for Oregon K-12? Do you agree
with faster growth of prison funding
over K-12 funding? Apparently Salem
is, as they are on a “fast track” to ap-
proval. Please email Senators Richard
Devlin, Peter Courtney, Arnie Roblan,
Rod Monroe, Chuck Thompsen, Tim
Knopp, and Representatives Tina
Kotek, Peter Buckley, Betty Komp,
Mark Johnson; urge them to put K-12
Kids first, move more funds to K-12
with a “bare bones” minimum goal of
$7.5 billion. Your 5-minutes now will
be noticed! You may receive a “can’t
do it” response, but your efforts will
support a growing effort to reverse
this Oregon K-12 10-year slide! Re-
member their responses at the next
election!
Rich Truax
Hood River
YOUNG VOICES
Julia Skwarczynski: Taking on the world, one language at a time
E
By AMI SANTILLAN
very high school student has a tal-
ent, something interesting about
them, or perhaps a little quirk to
them. Some students are talented
in math, some in science, but there
are very few students who know and are
learning more than four different lan-
guages. Whether she is up at the mountain
skiing or in a classroom studying, sopho-
more Julia Skwarczynski is always trying
her best to achieve the goals she has set for
herself and have success in the future.
Julia is a very busy student, but enjoys
what she does every day. She has a job at
her parents’ restaurant, she goes to ski up
on the mountain whenever she can, and
also does jazz and modern dance, all while
keeping up with her studies. Julia fluently
speaks Polish and English, and on top of
that she also is learning how to speak Ger-
man, Spanish and French.
“I find it very beneficial to know all
these languages. I’m hoping I’ll be able to
use them in the future, like a profession
or just when I travel,” Julia states.
Julia’s parents, Kate and Greg Skwar-
czynski, immigrated to the United States
from Poland in 1990 to find new opportu-
nities here. Her parents lived in Chicago
for 11 years before coming to Hood River.
Now, they own two restaurants here in
the gorge, The Mesquitery and Egg River
Cafe. Julia was taught how to speak Pol-
ish as her first language because her par-
ents thought it would be fundamental for
her to learn it — not to mention that her
whole family speaks Polish.
She was recently named the World Lan-
guage Student of the Month in November
at HRVHS. She is studying both Spanish
and French at the high school.
“Julia is a distinguished scholar of
both the French and Spanish languages.
She can be counted on in class to serve as
a model to others and produce thoughtful
work,” French teacher Nicole Goode
states.
At home, Julia speaks mostly Polish
and she is taking German classes on her
Chelsea Marr
General Manager
CMarr@hoodrivernews.com
Founded in 1905
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own. People who know that Julia can
speak so many languages are fascinated
by the fact.
“ I think it’s awesome that she knows
what she does and has good habits be-
cause it will definitely help her in the
long run,” sophomore Emma Ouzounian
said.
It is quite impressive to have the ability
to know the languages, but Julia just
replied, “Once you learn the first few lan-
guages you start to notice a lot of similar-
ities between them. It gets easier as you
learn more.” She will continue studying
French, German and Spanish until she
has fully mastered them and then she
might move on to another language. “I re-
ally love learning different languages and
I just want to be able to see where all
those languages will take me.”
■
Ami Santillan is a sophomore at Hood
River Valley High School. This article
originally appeared last month in the
HRVHS on-line newspaper, The Talon.
Patrick Mulvihill
News/Features
PMulvihill@hoodrivernews.com
Photo by Jesenia Guzman
POLYGLOT Julia Skwarczynski looks forward to see-
ing the places her language abilities will take her.
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