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East Oregonian
OFF PAGE ONE
SCHOOL: ‘We do not have a revenue
problem; we have a commitment problem’
the budget is formulated over
the next couple of months,
able to earmark more from Peterson said school pro-
the tax-supported general grams could be adversely
fund with a rising economy.
affected.
“We do not have a revenue
Local
administrators
problem; we have a commit- weren’t assuaged by the pos-
ment problem,” Davis said. sibility of more money com-
“When will it ever be enough ing through the May revenue
to make that commitment?”
forecast.
Reached Tuesday after-
According to Peterson
noon, Umatilla School Dis- and Sipe, by the time schools
trict Superintendent Heidi received the extra money,
Sipe said she and her ad- districts would be left with
ministration were already no time to recruit or rehire
meeting to discuss potential teachers.
budget cuts.
The local district best
Sipe said she will have poised to weather the budget
to cut staff to meet the more is the Hermiston School Dis-
than $650,000 in cuts the trict.
district will have to make if
Because of Hermiston’s
it doesn’t get any more state expanding student popula-
funding.
tion, Superintendent Fred
8PDWLOOD VFKRRO RI¿FLDOV Maiocco said the district has
have already cut program- enough funding to avoid staff
ming to the bone and are now layoffs.
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Still, Maiocco called the
meet the state’s minimum re- state budget “woefully in-
quirement.
adequate” while adding that
“We’re
hacking
off decreased professional de-
limbs,” she said.
velopment and increased
In Pendleton, Superin- class sizes could happen as a
tendent Jon Peterson said result.
his district would also be in
As a member of the Ways
“budget cutting mode.”
and Means Committee, state
:KLOH VSHFL¿F FXWV Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena,
wouldn’t be discussed until has already voted against the
Continued from 1A
proposed education budget.
Hansell said he’ll vote
against it again when it ar-
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less the budget is raised to
$7.5 million.
The senator said he is a
part of a “superminority” of
Republicans in the Legisla-
ture that have taken the un-
usual route of proposing a
larger education budget than
their Democratic counter-
parts.
Hansell said Republicans
are pushing for a larger bud-
get because of the state’s re-
cent woes in educational per-
formance.
“Oregon is in a world of
hurt,” he said.
The Oregon Education
Association, the state’s larg-
est teachers’ union, has not
endorsed a dollar amount.
But its president said law-
makers should fund current
operations before new ini-
tiatives such as increased
spending on early childhood
education, reading skills,
and school-to-work and high
school completion programs.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
ENVIRONMENT: Republican-controlled House from 1990-2006
istered lobbyist for the group,
said coalition members start-
The environmental lobby ed to come up with annual
does have several advan- lists of bills they could agree
tages, including strength in upon called “priorities for a
numbers and strong support healthy Oregon.”
from Democratic lawmakers
The environmental lob-
this session. At least 55 regis- by’s top priorities today are
tered lobbyists represent en- two bills they describe as
vironmental interests in Ore- “coal to clean”: Senate Bill
gon, and most are employees 477 and House Bill 2729.
of the groups they represent
Both would require utili-
and do other work in addi- ties to stop generating or pur-
tion to lobbying. In addition, chasing electricity from coal
Splitt said there are pro-en- power plants by 2025. The
vironment majorities in both Senate version would also
chambers.
require companies to replace
Environmentalists did not coal power with electrici-
always enjoy such a strong ty from sources “at least 90
position in Oregon. The Or- percent cleaner than coal-de-
egon Conservation Network rived generating resources,”
formed 20 years ago at a according to a legislative
time when environmentalists summary.
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Splitt said other priorities
bills aimed at undermining this year include a bill to re-
“good” legislation passed in quire private forestland own-
the 1970s, Splitt said. Re- ers to provide notice to the
publicans had control of the state and keep other records
House from 1990 to 2006, of their use of pesticides, a
and the Senate from 1994 to bill to appropriate money for
2002.
the Oregon Department of
“I think folks were feel- Fish and Wildlife to spend on
ing pretty frustrated with bad conservation and legislation
bills passing,” and decided to that would allow the state to
create a coalition to focus on end a mandate to generate
shared priorities, Splitt said. revenue from timber harvests
“The group organized at the on some public forests.
time pretty much played de-
Environmental groups are
fense.”
also pushing for the passage
A decade ago, the coali- of legislation that would pre-
tion decided to stop playing serve or create incentives for
defense and begin proposing a range of solar projects, from
more new legislation. Rhett residential to utility scale fa-
Lawrence, conservation di- cilities. Lawrence said solar
rector for the Oregon chapter energy “still needs a little bit
of the Sierra Club and a reg- of a hand in the next step in
Continued from 1A
putting it on a level playing
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Splitt said environmental
groups also want money for
public transit to be included
in any funding package for
street maintenance and other
transportation projects. The
outlook for that package is
unclear, since Republicans
stopped participating in talks
after Democrats passed the
low-carbon fuel bill.
Some groups lobbying
on the coal power bills and
other environmental issues
are not strictly environmental
groups.
Bob Jenks, executive di-
rector of the Citizens Utility
Board of Oregon, said the
group supports the coal legis-
lation because governments
will eventually regulate car-
bon emissions and ratepayers
could save money if utilities
begin to more aggressively
reduce carbon now.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
GEM: Old roof comes off in June
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the Gem, is nostalgic about
some of the smaller projects the old theater where he saw
using grants and money do- “King Kong” and munched
nated by community mem- popcorn. He remembers
bers, said board member Sam Dugger keeping the young
Pambrun. They replaced an moviegoers in line.
outside brick wall, gutted
“He policed the place,”
the theater and replaced Pambrun said. “He didn’t
the saloon’s façade. Now, yell, but if you were mak-
with a $400,000 infusion, ing noise, he would crook
they can forge ahead with KLV¿QJHUDW\RX´
the really big-ticket items
Nostalgia, though, will
VXFK DV UHSODFLQJ WKH ÀDW only get you so far. There’s
leak-prone roof and mov- also hours of study, discus-
ing a wall 30 feet out to sion and planning — not to
DFFRPPRGDWH D VWDJH À\ mention the sweat and sore
space and dressing rooms. muscles from physical la-
In late 2013, the Ford Fam- bor. McIntyre, who teaches
ily Foundation awarded a music at Weston-McEwen
$200,000 matching grant High School, orchestrates
to the group. In March, the the action.
M.J. Murdock Charitable
“Rob — he’s the one
Trust provided the needed who makes things happen,”
$200,000 match.
Pambrun said.
Pambrun, who like
The new theater will
Continued from 1A
include touches of the old.
Sixty original balcony seats
were removed and restored.
An art deco clock advertis-
ing Folsom Funeral Home
will go back on the wall.
The original project equip-
ment will be on display.
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work to be done. The old
roof will come off in June.
Volunteers, McIntyre said,
are welcome.
“We’re looking for mus-
cle,” he said.
To view drawings of the
future Gem and learn more,
go to www.gemtheater.org.
The group continues to
raise funds through the sale
of pavers engraved with up
to 50 characters for $125.
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
FREEDOM: Wants to clarify law by end of the week
Continued from 1A
Last week, Indiana Gov.
Mike Pence signed the state
Religious Freedom Resto-
ration Act, giving height-
ened protections to busi-
nesses and individuals who
object on religious grounds
to providing certain ser-
vices. The law triggered a
swift and intense backlash
from gay rights supporters,
businesses such as Apple,
and some states, which
barred government-funded
travel to Indiana.
Critics of the law say
the intent is to discriminate
against gays. They fear,
for example, that caterers,
ÀRULVWV SKRWRJUDSKHUV DQG
bakers with religious ob-
jections to same-sex mar-
riage will be allowed to
refuse to do business with
gay couples. Supporters of
the law say it will only give
religious objectors a chance
to bring their case before a
judge.
On Tuesday, Pence said
he wants the Legislature
to present him a bill by the
end of the week clarify-
ing that the new law does
not allow discrimination
against gays.
Pence said he does not
believe lawmakers intended
“to create a license to dis-
criminate.” But he added:
“I can appreciate that that’s
become the perception, not
just here in Indiana but all
across the country.”
Douglas Laycock, a
constitutional scholar at the
University of Virginia Law
School who helped win
passage of the 1993 federal
Religious Freedom Resto-
ration Act, said no one has
ever successfully used such
laws to override nondis-
crimination statutes. He ex-
pressed frustration that gay
rights advocates seem to be
ignoring this in their attack
on the Indiana law.
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