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Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
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Judging success
on a harder test
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regon students are
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crack at the Smarter
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teachers and administrators, for
suffering from testing whiplash,
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branch approach to education
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primary and secondary
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is no debate that the United
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behind many European
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Asian countries in quality of
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and misunderstood Smarter
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attempt to resuscitate our
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Students in grades three
through eight and high school
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The goal is to measure their
reading, writing, listening,
math, research and thinking
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the worst; more than half of all
students who take the test are
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curriculum so more students
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What’s in a
name?
If the moniker for the test –
Smarter Balanced – seems a little
ungainly, you can blame the folks
behind the plan. The test takes its
name from the multi-state coa-
lition of education officials that
developed the test, who named
themselves the Smarter, Balanced
Assessment Consortium.
those fears along to their
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And what is true on the pitch
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students that Smarter Balanced
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as much as it tests the students
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Sure, it won’t be easy for
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their low scores, especially
for children who are used
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those good grades in less-
challenging work weren’t
cutting it on the international
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up its game and any short-
term setbacks will make
our children smarter (and
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For now, remind your
son and daughter, or niece
or nephew, to take a deep
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their self-worth no matter what
a computerized score tells
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be the old parental standby that
all young people should hear
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OR wage hike would
be good … for Idaho
By Joe Beach
EO Media Group
Farmers and processors in Eastern
Oregon are keeping a close eye on pro-
posals in the Legislature that would in-
crease the state’s minimum wage – now
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They say if that happens they would
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to nearby Idaho, where the minimum
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Shay Myers, Owyhee Produce gen-
eral manager,said that type of increase
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Eastern Oregon farmers and agribusi-
nesses to compete with their colleagues
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wage would increase labor costs 62
percent at his company’s onion packing
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“How do we take a 62 percent re-
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think that we can remain in business
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Myers and other producers say
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Supporters of a minimum wage hike
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gon has the second-highest minimum
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been a noticeable migration of busi-
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time we propose raising the minimum
wage and yet we don’t see that hap-
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A bill she sponsors would increase
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measure in the House calls for a hike to
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Supporters note that 400,000 low-
wage earners in Oregon qualify for
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Rosenbaum said low-wage earn-
ers “work hard at some of the hardest
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ple should earn a wage that is closer to
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We agree that some of the talk about
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Farmers and packers are price tak-
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mandate from Salem — particularly if
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Raise the wage high enough and
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operators and their employees will be
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The way to raise wages is to in-
crease demand for labor, not reduce
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businesses to hire, and on new business
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people to work, and the market will
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peal of a higher minimum wage is easy
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Joe Beach is the managing editor of
the Capital Press, an EO Media publi-
cation.
C OMMENTARY
It’s time to take a new
tack, reinvest in schools
By Sen. Ted Ferrioli
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
195 N. Canyon Blvd. • John Day, OR 97845
541-575-0710 • Fax 541-575-1244
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
USPS 226-340
John Day, Oregon
MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
P UBLISHER
E DITOR
A DMINISTRATIVE A SSISTANT
E DITORIAL A SSISTANT
C OMMUNITY N EWS
S PORTS
M ARKETING R EP
C USTOMER S ERVICE R EP
Marissa Williams, marissa@bmeagle.com
Scotta Callister, editor@bmeagle.com
Kristina Kreger, kristina@bmeagle.com
Cheryl Hoefler, cheryl@bmeagle.com
Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com
Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com
Kim Kell, ads@bmeagle.com
Lindsay Bullock office@bmeagle.com
Despite years of campaign prom-
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underfunded Oregon schools for more
than a decade, shortchanging our chil-
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When Republicans last controlled
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cent of the discretionary budget went
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our children to manipulate the budget
forecast (Senate Bill 929) to steal the
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education to generate public support
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increase business and personal income
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Regardless of their tactic, under-
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While Oregon wastes money on ex-
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on-time graduation rate in the United
States, Oregon is ranked at the bottom
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to prioritize education has resulted in
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY BY:
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Tell it to court
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Copyright © 2015 Blue Mountain Eagle
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placing Oregon behind states like Ar-
kansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland,
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What does this mean for Oregon’s
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rently, Oregon has the second largest
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Here are choices that we should be
discussing to strengthen education in
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belong, the top of the class:
Oregon continues paying up to
$35,000 each for criminal defense costs
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This is an inappropriate use of taxpayer
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employee salaries in the last budget,
Senate Republicans would freeze state
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Democrats want $5 million to subsi-
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more money subsidizing a failed feder-
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The Elliott State Forest is held in
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through sustainable forest manage-
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money the last few years as Democrats
pandered to a radical, anti-management
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agement practices across Oregon, con-
sistent with the Oregon Forest Practice
Act, could raise $80 million per bien-
nium for schools while creating fami-
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tax dollars responsibly so we can fully
fund education, putting much-needed
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publicans choose to prioritize our kids
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Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, represents
District 30, which includes Grant
County and most of Eastern Oregon.
L ETTER TO THE E DITOR
To the Editor:
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months about the pending closure of
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planning and implementing these clo-
sures, they are being permitted by the
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been utilized unrestricted by Grant
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ing, recreational uses and general wel-
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“Therefore, be it hereby ordained
that for the safety and well-being of
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across public lands within the boundary
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open as historically and customarily uti-
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plans and policies, unless otherwise au-
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We all need to engage with the For-
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sures impact us, but it’s more important
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mits these actions to close the roads that
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look out for the local residents, we do
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Or, maybe this is really what the
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has the potential to disturb wildlife and
reduce security for elk and deer, prey
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Is the court’s desire to expand
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Who’s going to be to blame when
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We are, because we chose to be
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John George
Bates