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Mannix stickin it to the schools

In the right corner, the Indicator of Initiative, the Bully of the Ballots, the Cramp on Crime…KEVIN MANNIX [crowd on left boos, crowd on right hoorays, many in middle yawn]. And in the other corner, the, um, well, without further ado, the OREGON EDUCATION ASSOCIATION.

 

Mannix turned signatures today for his second crime-related initiative for the 2008 election, this one aimed at diverting 15 percent of Oregon Lottery funds into crime prevention, aimed at beefing up forensics and crime lab operations in the state, as well as helping “district attorneys and local sheriffs and to pay for early childhood programs for at-risk children.”

Oregon schools, which are set to receive about 80 percent of the projected $1 billion in the coming two years, will most likely be the butt end of this initiative if turned into a bill and passed.

“No one is against fighting crime,” said Gail Rasmussen, vice president of the union. “But any time a measure takes money out of the classroom, it doesn’t move us forward as a state; it takes us backward.”

The other option would be to take away the 15 percent of Lottery funds that go to parks and salmon restoration; a continuous run of fresh salmon for years, or the development of Oregon children? I choose the fish.

  1. Timothy says:

    And, buried way down deep, is this gem from the OSA:

    Last spring, the Oregon Student Association went to State Senator Vicki Walker, a Democrat, who threatened a law freezing all the fees that public colleges charged to students for taking specific majors and courses. The bill did not come to a vote, but nonetheless pressured the university system to form a committee of students and university officials to review the overall fee structure and how fees were set.

    Note how they don’t tell you about the over $100k in incidental fees they get from the UO alone. Anybody wonder how hard the OSA is really going to lobby to reduce fees? Anybody? And look at what they tried to get passed: a freeze in lab fees! What costs more, lab fees or that monstrous $624 incidental fee? At least this stuff is finally getting some attention, but I doubt any of the players have a real motive to reduce the single largest fee students face. Just eliminating the incidental fee would produce an 11% reduction in the total yearly cost of UO, and what’s the worst that would happen? The Voice would shut down?

  2. Timothy says:

    It’s possible that

  3. Meghann says:

    Has anyone seen The New York Times story on the rising cost of higher ed? It focuses on the UO and all the fees that are being attached to regular tuition. The Frohn and Emily McLain are interviewed. A photog from the RG snapped the shot. I don’t know where it ran in the paper edition, but you can check it online here:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/education/04fees.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin

  4. Wubba Wubba says:

    The right really don’t care about Kevin Mannix anymore.

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