The Senate Education Committee met Tuesday to look at the state education system with respect to COVID19 and the upcoming 2020-21 school year. Craig Hawkins, director of the Coalition of Oregon School Aministrators was one of the presenters.

At one point, the committee chair, Senator Hass (D-Beaverton) asked Hawkins, "Given the obvious shortfalls, here, how do you think the Student Success Act should be reconfigured this first year? Should it even start? Should it go with 60%, should money go into the school fund? If it does start underfunded would you reallocate those [allocations] in any different ways? Would you drop one of those or just keep the percentages the same although with lower numbers?"

Hawkins replied, "We are now looking at that. Under the governor's authority, it only allows across the board even reductions so we can not prioritize one program over another. If the legislature comes back into session, it can look at those various adjustments. I believe our districts will be very challenged if they cannot maintain that $9 billion dollar state school fund amount".

Senator Hass asked a follow up question "If the legislature then does have -- assume there is a special session -- assume the next forecast does not show that revenues are back up, would you then advocate to put all of the student success act funds into the state school support fund?"

Hawkins responded, "Frankley I do not know I am there yet with planning that far into the future. I'll work closely with the governor's office and the legislature to help design what it could look like."

Senator Rob Wagner (D-Lake Oswego), who is also a school board member and chair of the Lake Oswego School district, then asked "I know from the school board perspective, that part of the legal budget process that school districts just recently went through, they are planning for the worst case scenario as it related to the allotment cuts and many are suspending the SIA anticipated revenues coming in". What at a district level folks are planning on in these different scenarios.

Jim Green with Oregon School Boards Association answered, "What we have directed school districts to do -- obviously without the legislature coming into a special session -- without the governor awarding an allotment, we aksed our school districts to budget at their current level and continue forward, but also look at the potential reductions the governor has in her allotment process not knowing what the legislature's policy decisions might be around that, obviously, knowing there could be reductions in their budgets. They are required under state law to have budgets adopted, so it is a process by which we may have districts entering into supplemental budget processes.

The Student Success Act, HB3427, was passed in the 2019 session and funded by the Corporate Activities Tax. The legislation and those advocating for the bill were very clear that the CAT was additional school program funding and not to be used to backfill school budgets, leaving more money in the State general fund. Now those same lawmakers are backpedaling.

Schools will in some way shape or form start back up in September and somehow they need to be paid for, though the COVID-19 outbrak created some savings based on school not being in session. Some observers have pointed out that there will be large scale reductions in several areas of state spending. Schools, who get much of their funding through property taxes, have been largely insulated from revenue reductions, at least as compared to other state funded causes. Additionally, they've pointed out that schools ought to take at least part of a hit in general fund money, which comes from income taxes and in Student Investment Account spending, which comes from the newly passed CAT tax, which is expected to generate less revenue than hoped for.

It will be interesting to see how the public school system, with it's seemingly insatiable appetite for money, weathers the decline in revenue, and whether they try to use CAT tax money to backfill their budget.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2020-06-03 21:36:25

Last Update: 2020-06-03 21:36:33

Oregon Governor Kate Brown's request for the resignation of Employment Agency Director Kay Erickson may be cover for her years of lack of oversight, in multiple capacities. The agency has had multiple failures to issues unemployement checks to increasingly needy people, during the uptick in demand as people lost employment during the COVID-19 outbreak. Erickson, the director of the embattled agency, resigned on May 31.

The Oregon Employment Department computer system that issues checks to unemployed Oregonians is called the Oregon Benefit Information System, and it was subject to a state audit by then Secretary of State Kate Brown in August of 2012. The primary purpose of this audit was to review and evaluate the effectiveness of key general and application controls over the computing environment at the department.

In addition to other things, the audit found that, [T]he department did not always update the system to keep pace with some of the more complicated benefit program rule changes enacted by state and federal governments during the recent economic downturn. For example, staff had to manually perform important tasks such as examining previous claims and performing manual calculations in order to determine the correct benefit program to be charged.

The audit also described the scope of the problem. "During fiscal year 2011, department staff identified overpayments totaling approximately $32.6 million that were not the result of fraud." For instance, the audit continues, "[T]he department sometimes paid claimants twice for the same benefit week. For example, one claimant was paid an average of $501 per week for 12 weeks. When staff discovered these weeks should have been paid using a different benefit program the department paid these same weeks at the correct rate of $179 per week, bringing the total weekly amount paid to $680. Since the original payment was $322 greater than it should have been, making the additional payment to correct the error only compounded the problem."

To summarize, this audit -- which occurred under then Secretary of State Brown's watch -- revealed systemic problems with manually intensive solutions, further exposed by a smaller financial crisis.

In December of 2015, after Brown had become Governor, her newly hand-picked successor, current Secretary of State Bev Clarno performed another audit on the same computer systems, concluding, "These computer programs are inflexible, poorly documented, and difficult to maintain. Considering these factors, Employment should take steps to replace them with more robust and maintainable computer code.

Again, the benefits system was cited as deficient. "OBIS is not flexible enough to efficiently handle additional requirements, such as those that occurred during the latest economic downturn." Both audits additionally pointed to disaster recovery and security as weaknesses in the Employement Agency computer systems.

It's hard to imagine how Governor Brown escapes responsibility for the recent failures at the Employment Agency, and the support that they give to very needy citizens.

The Employment Agency has embarked on a lengthy Software Modernization program, started in 2015 and scheduled to conclude in 2025. It is mostly funded with federal money. Legislators have questioned the lengthy schedule of the project.




--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2020-06-03 18:03:30

Last Update: 2020-06-03 18:04:39

The Oregon Republican Party announced today, the launch of the “Stop The Abuse - Recall Kate Brown” campaign to gather signatures to place the recall of Governor Kate Brown on the ballot this fall and end “her disastrous, unaccountable, and abusive tenure as the chief executive of our state,” stated Chairman Bill Currier.

During the summer of 2019, the “Stop The Abuse - Recall Kate Brown” campaign pursued an all-volunteer, grassroots signature-gathering effort and fell short of the 280,050 signatures required. Nearly 33% of the signatures came from non-Republicans.

“In 2019, there was clearly buyer’s remorse about Kate Brown’s leadership that led hundreds of thousands of voters to seek to hold her accountable,” said Currier. “The conduct of the Governor during the events of 2020 has only served to reveal just how devastating Brown’s abuse of power could truly be upon Oregon. A year ago, citizens were angry, but now Oregonians are fighting for their livelihoods and their freedoms. Governor Brown’s unlawful executive orders stand in the way of restoring both.”

“Why keep a Governor that cannot deal with what she dismissed as "small groups" of rioters around the state and can't deliver desperately needed unemployment benefits for 50% of Oregon's 400K unemployed who have now been waiting over two months? No one seriously believes that this Governor is going to somehow do a great job turning the economy around when the only thing she seems to be good at is shutting the economy down and killing off more employers with taxes and suffocating regulation.”

“Today, Kate Brown acts as if the Office of the Governor is all-powerful and unaccountable, and for an unlimited period of time. That kind of power is too much for any officeholder, but especially for this Governor who is trampling on the Constitutionally guaranteed rights of her citizens. The only positive way forward for our state is to remove Kate Brown from office.”

“Oregon’s citizens have suffered enough as a result of the fallout of Brown’s handling of COVID-19. The curve has been flattened, but now the Governor seems to be more interested in controlling and fleecing Oregonians for every penny, than keeping us safe. We can’t afford two more years of Kate Brown. Through her failed and abusive leadership, Kate Brown is effectively recalling herself. The campaign to end her disastrous tenure and bring new hope to our state starts today.”

You can go here for more information or to obtain petitions to sign.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2020-06-01 17:35:11

Last Update: 2020-06-01 17:35:30

--Isaac Helland

Post Date: 2020-05-30 20:27:02

It appears that a recall effort directed at Oregon State Senator Chuck Thomsen (R-Hood River) will not gather the required 9,025 signatures to put a recall of the Senator on the ballot. The required signatures are due June 2 and the Chief Petitioner, Lara Dunn is saying that she will be unable to gather that many signatures by the deadline, despite having raised more that $130,000.

A vast majority of the cash and in-kind contributions to the campaign -- over $110,000 -- came from Our Oregon, the political arm of Oregon's public employee unions, with the American Federation of Teachers contributing a large, but smaller amount.

This recall campaign highlights what many believe is a great deal of fiscal irresponsibility within left-leaning campaign circles, especially Our Oregon. Public employee unions are feeling the sting from the June 2018 US Supreme Court decision Janus v. AFSCME which recognized government employee union members’ right to leave their union and not pay dues.

There are slightly fewer than 120,000 registered voters in Senate District 26. Having raised more than $130,000, it seems that at a dollar a piece, a mail piece containing a signature sheet could have been sent to each registered voter in the district, making the recall a success. Given that they needed only 9,025 signatures, they could have spent more than $14 per signature to get the recall to the ballot.

The spending includes over $98,000 for petition circulators, who certainly were affected by Governor Kate Brown’s shutdown order – which is somewhat ironic, considering that this recall was in the interest of the Governor and her party.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2020-05-29 21:49:26

Last Update: 2020-05-30 14:49:03

The House Business and Labor Committee met this week to hear testimony from Leadership at the beleaguered Employment Agency. The agency is still badly behind in processing unemployment claims caused by Governor Kate Brown's response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The committee took more than an hour of testimony from Employment Department Leadership but Committee Chair, Paul Holvey refused to allow lawmakers to ask any live questions of the agency’s leaders.

Committee Member, Representative Shelly Boshart Davis (R-Albany), said, after the committee hearing, “I’ve heard from countless Oregonians over the last few months regarding their frustration accessing the unemployment benefits they are rightfully due. Many of them are rightfully furious over spending hours upon hours trying to get through to someone in the department who could assist them. The horror stories are endless and have been well documented by the press. I am incredibly frustrated that lawmakers were not given an opportunity to ask questions of the Department’s leadership, including how we ended up in this mess, when the agency realized they had a problem, were they given notification of the Governor's Executive Orders which essentially put tens of thousands of Oregonians out of work overnight, what took them so long to respond and when, exactly, can unemployed Oregonians expect to receive the benefits they have earned."

Some observers are puzzled by the heavy-handed tactics wielded by a Democrat party that has Legislative super-majorities and controls the governorship, yet refuses to let the opposing party have even a symbolic chance to participate. Certainly, the seriousness of the troubles at the Employment Agency call for a bi-partisan conversation.

Boshart-Davis concluded, "This is just the latest glaring example of lack of accountability under our state’s leadership. This is a deeply human crisis and the state has failed miserably. Oregonians deserve answers.”

The House Committee on Business and Labor is expected to meet again on Saturday.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2020-05-28 19:33:11

Last Update: 2020-05-28 19:33:39

Today, the National Hockey League announced that it is returning to play with the Stanley Cup Playoffs that will include 24 teams.

The NHL paused the regular season March 12 due to concerns surrounding COVID-19 and its remaining 189 games will not be completed. The 12 qualifying teams from the Eastern and Western conferences were determined by points percentage as of that date. Seven teams did not qualify.

League Commissioner Gary Bettman said in announcing the Return to Play Plan, "While nothing is without risk, ensuring health and safety has been central to all of our planning so far and will remain so.

"Let me assure you that the reason we are doing this is because our fans have told us in overwhelming numbers that they want to complete the season if at all possible. And our players and our teams are clear that they want to play and bring the season to its rightful conclusion."

The Qualifying Round and Seeding Round Robin will be held at two hub cities to be identified -- one for the 12 participating Eastern Conference teams and one for the 12 Western Conference teams - and begin at a date to be determined. Candidates for the hub cities include Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Vancouver.

The Commissioner said the decision on the hub cities and when the Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin will depend on COVID-19 conditions, testing ability and government regulations. A comprehensive system for testing will be in place in each hub city. Each team will be permitted to travel a maximum of 50 personnel, including players, coaches and staff, to its hub city.

"Obviously, we anticipate playing over the summer and into the early fall," Commissioner Bettman said. "At this time, we are not fixing dates because the schedule of our return to play will be determined both by developing circumstances and the needs of the players."

This action marks a great moment in creativity and courage and stands in stark contrast to the actions of many state and local governments and their failure to be responsive to the people and to properly assess the facts.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2020-05-26 17:14:20

Last Update: 2020-05-26 17:14:28

--Isaac Helland

Post Date: 2020-05-22 17:22:13

Last Update: 2020-05-22 17:22:26

--Team Meme at Northwest Observer

Post Date: 2020-05-20 21:03:30

Last Update: 2020-05-20 21:03:52

The Independent Party of Oregon (IPO) released the preliminary results of it’s online primary today. Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in a runoff and though Kim Thatcher (R-Keizer) appeared to get more votes for Secretary of State than Ken Smith, the IPO website listed the race as “too close to call.” Thatcher and Smith emerged from a crowded field that included the top three Democrats from the Democratic primary and former State Representative Rich Vial.

The Independent Party of Oregon is not an a party of independents, as most people consider the term. Those who are truly independent register instead as non-affiliated voters or NAVs. Recently, the IPO had reached a threshold of a percentage of the electorate to be considered a major party, but lately -- insiders claim it was due to Oregon's Motor Voter law registering people as NAVs -- is has dropped back down to minor party status. They held their primary this year as an online vote.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2020-05-20 20:34:51

Last Update: 2020-05-20 20:34:58

It appears that Republican State Senator Kim Thatcher will be the Republican nominee against an unknown challenger in a race that's too close to call on the Democrat side. The race looks to be an interesting and possibly expensive one for Oregon Secretary of State.

State Senator Mark Hass (D-Beaverton) showed an early, uncommanding lead. Hass has been in the legislature since 2007

State Senator Shemia Fagan (D-Portland) was trailing. She was elected to the Oregon House in 2012 and served two terms as a left-leaning progressive legislator. In 2018 she launched a primary fight against incumbent State Senator Rod Monroe (D-Portland) with housing issues as a backdrop. As an advocate for tenants’ rights, she defeated Monroe, who is also a landlord.

Fagan has drawn criticism from colleagues -- including those in her own party -- for her use and over-dependence on government employee union money. Representative Alyssa Keny-Guyer (D-Portland) remarked to her in a letter, "I have agonized about where to take my profound disappointment in your campaign."

Thatcher (R-Keizer), who has a strong track record during her time in the Legislature as an advocate for accountable government, says, “I believe every Oregonian deserves a state government that is a good steward of YOUR tax dollars….and that every elected official in Oregon must be accountable, transparent, and honest with taxpayers.”

Thatcher’s website boasts a pledge “not use the Secretary of State office to advance a partisan agenda,” which could perhaps be interpreted as a dig at previous Democrat Secretaries of State who have been accused of using the office to advance an agenda.

The Secretary of State race this year has drawn extra focus, because according to Oregon’s Constitution, if the Legislature fails to draw a map for redistricting the congressional and legislative districts, the job falls to the Secretary of State. This work will be done during the 2021 Legislative Session, and voters will vote for the first time as constituents of these districts in 2022.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2020-05-20 19:32:46

Last Update: 2020-05-28 19:33:03

Former State Representative Cliff Bentz of Ontario has won the 2nd Congressional district Republican nomination. The Northwest Observer is calling the race for Bentz. The Republican nominee is widely regarded to be the odds-on favorite in the general election in November.

He defeated former State Representative Knute Buehler of Bend, Central Oregon Businessman Jimmy Crumpacker and former State Senator Jason Atkinson of Central Point.

Buehler, a Bend physician, failed to persuade voters of his more moderate brand. For example, Buehler received an F rating from Oregon Firearms Federation while Crumpacker, as a newcomer with no legislative track record received a B+.

The seat has been reliably Republican for decades. The last year the seat was held by a Democrat was 1981, by Al Ullman.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2020-05-19 21:51:32

Last Update: 2020-05-20 07:53:09