Many of you follow my updates on twitter and Facebook and are therefor aware that Jen gave me her terrible cold. This one is a real pain in the butt, and I'm still in the part where I feel worse each day rather than better. Despite all this, tonight I'm braving my way through the haze of Kleenex and Nyquil to let you know about a really important event coming up on February 16th at the Salem state capital to support public school funding in Oregon.
There are many aspects of the funding picture that just don't add up for Oregon schools. Did you know that the Oregon school year is shorter than any of its surrounding states? In Portland the school day is the shortest of any district in Oregon.
The Governor's proposed budget for this biennium falls $199 million dollars short of the essential budget level for 2009 - 2011, which is the amount needed just to keep funding at its current levels. But the governor's budget was proposed before the latest economic news was issued by the Oregon State Economist's office and is now seen as an optimistic proposal in Salem. The schools are facing a short-fall for this year, which means they won't be able to pay their bills for the 2008-2009 school year without further cuts.
Oregon's children don't vote or write checks for campaigns (and can't drive themselves to the rally). That's why it's so important that we get a great turnout at our Monday February 16th President's day rally to demand adequate funding for our schools and other programs.
If we want our legislators to stand up for our kids we need to show them that they have support when the going gets tough. And the going has gotten tough. If you'd like more information about the rally please email me at dave dot worth at gmail dot com, or sign up directly at http://stand.org/or/rally. We even have buses coming directly from Portland schools to get you there!
