OREGON
TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — 5A
Legislature OKs $9.3 billion for
schools after partisan debate
By Peter Wong
Oregon Capital Bureau
A two-year, $9.3 billion
budget for state aid to public
schools is on its way to Gov.
Kate Brown after a partisan
fi ght in the Oregon House.
The House passed the
budget on a 36-20 vote,
majority Democrats for
and minority Republicans
against, after Republicans
failed to send it back to the
Legislature’s joint budget
committee to add $300 mil-
lion for the two years start-
ing July 1.
The extra money, and
more, is likely to material-
ize anyway in a couple of
months. The state’s lat-
est economic and revenue
forecast, presented May
19, projects $664 million in
excess corporate income tax
collections — which under
a 2012 ballot measure go
into the state school fund.
The third-quarter forecast,
scheduled for Sept. 22, will
yield the actual number.
The Senate approved the
budget, 23-6, on May 25.
The excess collections,
known as the “kicker,” were
not mentioned during the
House debate.
The $9.3 billion in state
funds will be combined with
a projected $4.6 billion in
local property taxes for 197
school districts. The ratio is
the reverse of what it was
before Oregon voters ap-
proved a series of statewide
property tax limits in the
1990s and shifted the bur-
den of school operating costs
from property taxpayers to
state income taxes, which
account for more than 90%
of the state general fund.
(The school fund also gets
Oregon Lottery proceeds and
marijuana sales taxes. Some
money from Oregon’s new
corporate activity tax, which
lawmakers passed in 2019
and started in 2020, also is
included.)
Only the budgets of the
Oregon Health Authority
and the Department of Hu-
man Services, both of which
get federal grants, are larger.
EO Media Group/File
The state Capitol in Salem.
GOP: More money
Brown originally proposed
$9.1 billion in her 2021-23
budget, which she unveiled
Dec. 1, a slight increase from
$9 billion in the current
two-year cycle that ends
June 30. She proposed to tap
$200 million from the state’s
education reserve, which
lawmakers had already
withdrawn $400 million
from last year to balance the
budget during the coronavi-
rus pandemic.
But since then, the overall
budget picture has improved
because of increased projec-
tions of tax collections from
two subsequent economic
and revenue forecasts, some
savings from budget cuts,
and $2.6 billion in fed-
eral aid from President Joe
Biden’s pandemic recovery
plan. (Half of that aid will be
paid next year.)
Seven Republican repre-
sentatives, including Minor-
ity Leader Christine Drazan
of Canby, said the aid budget
should refl ect the $9.6 billion
advocated by the Oregon
School Boards Association.
“As we ask our schools to
bring kids back to have full
in-person learning fi ve days
a week, they are going to be
bombarded with unknowns,”
Drazan said. “The need for
them to have the resources
necessary to create an envi-
ronment where these kids
can be successful cannot be
overstated.”
Rep. Greg Smith, a Repub-
lican from Heppner who sits
on the budget committee,
said boosting the amount
would be a true bipartisan
gesture in an often-fractured
House.
The May 14 vote of the
full budget committee was
21-1. Sen. Chuck Thomsen,
R-Hood River, was the lone
dissenter, and also opposed it
May 25 when it came up in
the full Senate. One Repub-
lican was excused from the
committee vote.
The motion to send the
budget back to committee
failed with two Democrats —
Mark Meek of Oregon City
and Marty Wilde of Eugene
— joining 20 Republicans.
Earlier in the day, Repub-
licans attempted but failed
on a procedural motion to
put to a vote a separate bill
committing Oregon’s 197
school districts to reopen
fully for the 2021-22 aca-
demic year that starts in a
few months.
Democrats defend
amount
Rep. Susan McLain, D-
Forest Grove, said overall
education spending in the
new budget cycle is projected
at 51% of the tax-supported
general fund and lottery pro-
ceeds, and the state school
fund accounts for 32.4%.
“We are creating record in-
vestments in public schools
this year,” McLain, co-leader
of the education budget
subcommittee, said.
Rep. Dan Rayfi eld, a
Democrat from Corvallis and
co-leader of the Legislature’s
joint budget panel, said
about $6 billion of a pro-
jected $28 billion in general
fund and lottery spending
for the next two years is one-
time money.
He said he and McLain
worked for four months
to come up with the right
fi gure for school aid.
“It is our job as a legis-
lature to fi nd out what is
the Goldilocks porridge in
our budget that meets the
needs of our children, but
also at the same time, is a
sustainable budget that we
can continue to operate on,”
Rayfi eld said.
Rep. Andrea Valderrama,
D-Portland, leads the David
Douglas School Board and
is the newest member of the
Legislature, having taken
her District 47 seat on April
1 after her predecessor
resigned under pressure.
“As a school board chair, I
will be doing everything that
I can to hold our district
accountable to equitable
spending and meaningful
engagement of communities
of color,” Valderrama, one
of nine House members of
color and 31 women, said.
Rep. Paul Evans, D-Mon-
mouth, voted for the bill. But
he said lawmakers should
be working toward paying
for public schools at the
level recommended by the
Quality Education Model,
which takes into account the
staffi ng and services that
students should get. The
process was initiated more
than two decades ago by
then-Gov. John Kitzhaber,
who also won voter approval
of a 2000 constitutional
amendment that requires
lawmakers to specify why
Oregon does not meet that
goal. (Lawmakers never
have met it.)
Evans said if the state
budget were to pay fully
for that model, lawmakers
should be approving $10 bil-
lion for the next two years.
“We will continue to fi ght
over nickels and dimes to
get the state school fund a
little higher,” Evans said.
“But it is the wrong fi ght.”
S TATE B RIEFING
Oregon’s public universities, including
EOU, will require COVID-19 vaccination
PORTLAND (AP) — All of Oregon’s publicly funded
universities will now require the COVID-19 vaccination
for returning students, as well as faculty and staff.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reported Friday that the
fi nal two universities to announce the decision were the
Oregon Institute of Technology and Eastern Oregon
University.
The schools will have a process for students to get legal
exemptions. Students who attend class fully online and
who don’t engage in any on-campus activities will not be
required to be vaccinated, the news outlet said.
OIT made its announcement Wednesday afternoon,
June 2, and EOU followed on Thursday, June 3.
EOU President Tom Inkso said during a board meet-
ing in May that many students and faculty were split
on the decision to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine. In a
survey, the majority of faculty at EOU were in favor of
a vaccine mandate, while the majority of students were
against one.
Eastern will offi cially require COVID-19 vaccinations
when the Federal Drug Administration fully approves
one or more of the vaccines. Both Pfi zer and Moderna
have emergency use approval for their shots and expect
to get full approval later in 2021. But EOU offi cials
emphasized in a statement that students and faculty
shouldn’t wait for the full approval to get their vaccines.
House Speaker wants to expel Republican
who opened Capitol door to protesters
SALEM (AP) — Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek
wants to expel a Republican lawmaker who allowed
violent protesters into the state Capitol in December.
Kotek introduced a resolution that says if two-thirds
of the members of the House of Representatives concur,
Rep. Mike Nearman would be expelled from the House.
Minutes before the House opened its fl oor session late
Monday morning, June 7, her offi ce announced that
Kotek appointed a committee to consider expulsion.
The committee, composed of three Democrats and
three Republicans, will convene later this week and
take up the resolution, Kotek’s press release said.
The incident on Dec. 21 rattled lawmakers and staff
inside the Capitol and foreshadowed the Jan. 6 assault
on the U.S. Capitol by rioters spurred on by then Presi-
dent Donald Trump. Several of those who were among
the crowds in Salem on Dec. 21 later were in Washing-
ton during the U.S. Capitol attack.
As lawmakers met in emergency session on Dec.
21 to deal with economic fallout from the coronavi-
rus pandemic, far-right rioters entered the building.
They sprayed chemical irritants at police who fi nally
expelled them. Outside, protesters broke windows on
the Capitol and assaulted journalists.
Later, security camera video emerged showing Near-
man opening a door to the capitol, which was closed to
the public because of the coronavirus pandemic, allow-
ing protesters to enter. Nearman allegedly told people
in a video days earlier that he would let them in if they
texted him, and he provided his cell phone number.
The video was fi rst reported Friday, June 4 by Oregon
Public Broadcasting.
n her resolution, Kotek said personnel who were
authorized to be in the Oregon Capitol described the
events on Dec. 21 as intense and stressful, terrifying
and distressing.
“Law enforcement offi cers were visibly injured and
shaken due to the demonstrators’ action,” Kotek said.
State official: fraud ‘significant’ issue with jobless claims
the trust fund,” Gerstenfeld
said in his weekly media call
The number of new job-
Wednesday.
less claims is falling rapidly
Many of those fraudulent
across the country as the
claims are never paid, but
nation emerges from the
unlike many other states
pandemic, but not nearly as Oregon has not disclosed
fast in Oregon.
how many false claims it
For several weeks, the
does pay. And Oregon won’t
number of jobless claims
say how much it believes its
fi led nationally have been
employment insurance sys-
at their lowest levels of
tem has lost to fraud during
the pandemic. There were
the pandemic.
385,000 new claims last
Fraud has been a major
week for regular benefi ts
problem elsewhere. Thieves
last week, 20,000 fewer than have stolen more than $11
the week before, and the
billion in California since the
fi rst time the total number
pandemic began last year,
of new claims has been
for example, and Washington
below 400,000 since March lost more than $200 million
2020.
in the early weeks of the
In Oregon, though, the
pandemic.
6,100 new claims fi led last
Oregon has said its losses
week were still well above
are nowhere near that se-
the number of new claims
vere but won’t say just how
fi led last summer and fall – much thieves have taken for
when Oregonians were fi ling fear of attracting more at-
fewer than 5,000 new claims tention from the crooks. The
per week.
state has said the number
On Wednesday, June 3,
of fraudulent jobless claims
employment department
using Oregonians’ stolen
Acting Director David
identities increased tenfold
Gerstenfeld acknowledged
last year.
that fraud is a “signifi cant”
Cyberthieves fi le their
reason why Oregon’s claims fraudulent benefi ts applica-
have remained elevated.
tions digitally, and so they
“We’re seeing people still
could be anywhere in the
trying to steal money from
world. During the pandemic,
By Mike Rogoway
The Oregonian
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they have capitalized on the
fl ood of new claims – and
expansions in federal jobless
aid – by attempting to sneak
in illicit claims along with
legitimate ones.
The thieves’ focus shifts
among states as they at-
tempt to fi nd weaknesses
in each jurisdiction’s claims
process. In April, Oregon
shut down part of its online
claims form because of
“suspicious activity” on its
website, delaying benefi ts
fi lings from self-employed
workers.
The number of new
Oregon claims did show
a substantial decline last
week, to the lowest level
since November. And the
number of new claims for a
separate program for self-
employed workers, Pandemic
Unemployment Assistance,
fell sharply, too, from 2,600 to
around 1,600 last week.
Overall, Oregon’s economy
appears to be performing on
par with the nation’s. The
state’s jobless rate was 6.0%
in April, compared to 6.1%
nationally.
Fraud isn’t the only reason
why Oregon jobless claims
aren’t falling as fast as in
other parts of the country,
Gerstenfeld said.
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Claims ebb and fl ow for a
variety of reasons, even dur-
ing normal economic times.
He said many Oregonians
are fi ling new claims because
they’ve been out of work for
a full year, have exhausted
eligibility under their origi-
nal programs and now must
start fresh seeking new aid.
“I think that’s one reason
for part of the difference,”
Gerstenfeld said.
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EASTERN OREGON
2021
PHOTO CONTEST
Official Rules:
Photo Contest open now and closes at
11:59 pm Sunday, June 20, 2021.
Staff will choose the top 10. The public can
vote online for People’s Choice from 12:01
am Monday, June 21 through 11:59 pm
Thursday, June 30.
Digital or scanned photos only, uploaded
to the online platform. No physical copies.
Only photographers from Oregon may
participate.
The contest subject matter is wide open but
we’re looking for images that capture life
in Eastern Oregon.
Entrants may crop, tone, adjust saturation
and make minor enhancements, but may
not add or remove objects within the
frame, or doctor images such that the final
product doesn’t represent what’s actually
before the camera.
The winners will appear in the July 8th
edition of Go Magazine; the top 25 will
appear online.
Gift cards to a restaurant of your choice
will be awarded for first, second and third
place.
A $300 SPECIAL OFFER!*
(844) 989-2328
*Off er value when purchased at retail.
Solar panels sold separately.
Submit all photos
online at:
bakercictyherald.com/photocontest