NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, July 14, 2022
Education initiative petitions underway
choice and put them back in the
driver’s seat,” she said.
By DICK MASON
The Observer
School choice
LA GRANDE — A drive is
underway to get a pair of initia-
tive petitions on Oregon’s Novem-
ber 2024 election ballot to make it
easier for parents to send their chil-
dren to any public or private school
in the state.
Tualatin-based Education Free-
dom for Oregon is organizing the
efforts.
One initiative petition calls for
an open enrollment constitutional
amendment and another would call
for a school choice constitutional
amendment.
Open enrollment
The open enrollment amendment
would put a ballot measure before
voters to give parents the right to
send their children to any public
school in Oregon. The proposed
ballot measure would amend the
Oregon Constitution so a child
could attend any public school in
Oregon that has room for additional
students.
For example, if a public school
has room for five additional second
graders and there are five applicants
from outside the school’s district, the
school would have to accept all five
of the students, said Donna Kreit-
zberg, one of three chief petition-
ers for the initiative petitions and a
member of the executive committee
of Education Freedom for Oregon.
Under the proposal, should there
be more applicants than openings,
the school district would be required
The Observer, File
Ronan MacDonald, a student at La Grande Middle School, works on an assignment during class April 7, 2022. A
Tualatin-based group is spearheading a drive to get a pair of initiative petitions on Oregon’s November 2024
election ballot to make it easier for parents to send their children to any public or private school in the state.
to conduct a lottery to give each of
the applicants an equal opportunity
to be selected and enrolled.
School districts would not be
required to accept students for open-
ings if they had been expelled from
their previous school. Kreitzberg
said the leaders of the Open Enroll-
ment amendment drive don’t want
problem students to be handed to
other schools.
The rules of the proposed initia-
tive petition would give priority to
students of families living in each
school district. This means that if
there are 25 spaces available for
third graders in a school district
and there are 25 third graders living
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
FRIDAY
| Go to AccuWeather.com
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
within the school district whose
families want them to enroll there,
these children would fill all the slots
and the outside students might have
to be put on a waiting list.
Kreitzberg said the Open Enroll-
ment amendment would empower
parents.
“This would give parents a
Wallowa County may get BLM land
Nash said the BLM holds less
than 30,000 acres in Wallowa
County.
ENTERPRISE — The
Howeve r, seve r a l
Wallowa County Board parcels are in key places
of Com mission-
and Com mission
ers heard a brief
Chairwoman Susan
presentation from
Rober ts asked
Wayne Monger of
Monger that if the
the federal Bureau
BLM w ishes to
of Land Manage-
divest itself of some
of its holdings in the
ment in Vale who
county, the county or
discussed possibly
divesting the BLM of
Hillock
private landowners
its minimal holdings
might be interested
in the county.
in purchasing it or
Monger, who is
accepting a donation
of the land.
relatively new to
the position, said he
“We’ll have to
wished to become
look at parcels we’d
known to the board.
consider for disposal,
He said he will be
so if you have any
Nash
suggestions, by all
i mplement i ng a
means,” Monger said.
quar terly repor t
from his district.
“We do,” Roberts
He emphasized
said. “There aren’t
very many acres in
that fire season has
started, mentioning a
Wallowa County and
4,000-acre blaze that
they’re located in
burned north of Vale.
spots that are more
“Just be aware, it
conducive to private
is coming,” he said of
Roberts
ownership, if we can
the fire season.
get that — or county
Monger said his district ownership — so if you need
covers about 5.1 million acres to dispose of parcels, the
and Commissioner Todd county would like to offer.”
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
Sunshine
Sunshine and hot
94° 64°
95° 64°
Plenty of sunshine
Pleasant with
plenty of sunshine
Nice with plenty of
sunshine
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
92° 61°
88° 57°
85° 63°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
97° 67°
100° 65°
97° 64°
92° 55°
OREGON FORECAST
91° 60°
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. Wed.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
71/55
85/58
93/58
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
91/65
Lewiston
79/53
96/64
Astoria
69/55
Pullman
Yakima 92/61
79/51
94/66
Portland
Hermiston
85/59
The Dalles 97/67
Salem
Corvallis
83/50
Wednesday
Normals
Records
La Grande
92/60
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
85/53
91/56
95/57
Ontario
102/69
Caldwell
Burns
93°
72°
93°
58°
108° (2002) 44° (1950)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
85/51
0.00"
0.03"
0.05"
7.48"
2.46"
5.07"
WINDS (in mph)
100/65
96/51
Trace
0.31"
0.18"
11.13"
4.32"
8.13"
through 3 p.m. Wed.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 89/55
87/55
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
94/64
94/63
93°
68°
90°
58°
109° (1930) 40° (1917)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
80/51
Aberdeen
87/61
91/62
Tacoma
Wednesday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
79/56
Today
Medford
95/61
Fri.
SW 6-12
NW 4-8
Boardman
Pendleton
WSW 8-16
W 7-14
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
90/51
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:19 a.m.
8:42 p.m.
10:09 p.m.
6:01 a.m.
Last
New
First
Full
July 20
July 28
Aug 5
Aug 11
The school choice constitutional
amendment would make it easier
for parents to afford to enroll their
children in any private school in the
state if there is space available.
The amendment calls for a
school choice account to be created
for students attending or planning
to attend private schools. A portion
of the state money that public school
districts receive whenever a student
attends a public school would go
into this account. The funds would
go directly to private schools, Kreit-
zberg said.
Kreitzberg said the drive to
get the amendments on the 2024
ballot are in its very early stages.
Sponsorship signatures are being
collected throughout the state. Once
the required number is gathered, the
drive’s petitioners will be closer to
getting ballot titles from the state
and the necessary permission to
begin collecting the signatures
needed to get the initiative petitions
on the 2024 ballot.
A belief in the importance of
fairness in education is part of what
Kreitzberg said is motivating her to
take on this project.
“We believe that all Oregon
K-12 students deserve the opportu-
nity to receive a great education,”
she said. “Oregon’s education
dollars are meant to educate all
Oregon K-12 students, and our
amendments will make sure that
happens in a fair manner.”
Roberts and Monger
agreed they would keep in
touch over possible transfer
of ownership.
Nash said his main
concern is along the Minam
River down to Troy.
“The use of it has ramped
up considerably,” he said,
“that being a wild and
scenic river and everything
reverts back to BLM, but
there really isn’t a presence
of BLM here in the county.
I’m like Commissioner
Roberts in that either you
need to have a presence and
help us through some of the
concerns that arise or wash
your hands of it.”
Roberts said the county
has a permanent easement
with BLM for Wildcat Road
that the agency has land
along.
Commissioner John Hill-
ock agreed, saying county
access is crucial.
“The last time there was
a flash flood, we couldn’t get
in to do work on the road,”
he said.
Roberts said the ease-
ment that has since been
arranged is the solution to
that access.
NATIONAL EXTREMES
IN BRIEF
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 113° in Needles, Calif. Low 35° in Yellowstone N.P., Wyo.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Shooting in Baker City
leaves juvenile dead
BAKER CITY — A male juvenile was
shot and killed in the parking lot at the
Baker Technical Institute on the Baker High
School campus early on Wednesday, July 13,
and another juvenile has been arrested in
connection with the shooting.
The shooting was reported at 12:25 a.m.,
according to a press release from the Baker
County Sheriff’s Office.
The caller told a dispatcher the shooting
suspect had fled.
Baker City police officers responded and
found a male juvenile with a gunshot wound.
Efforts to save the victim were not success-
ful.
Police also found a female juvenile at the
scene who was not hurt.
Baker Technical Institute is at the north-
west corner of the BHS campus, north of the
gymnasium.
The Major Crime Team, which includes
representatives from the Baker City police,
Baker County Sheriff’s Office and Oregon
State Police, is investigating.
Employees from the Oregon State Police
crime lab worked throughout the early morn-
ing hours to collect evidence and process
the scene.
There is no danger to the public at this
time, according to the press release.
The Baker School District sent out a
notice, stating, “Activities scheduled on the
main High School campus will continue.
Please use the main entry of the building.
Any activity scheduled in the BTI wing is
cancelled until further notice.”
— EO Media Group
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
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cold front
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