Cascade CounterPoint

Full-text: Last November, voters in Arkansas elected Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders as their new Governor. Oregonians elected Democrat Tina Kotek.

On March 9, Gov. Huckabee Sanders signed the Arkansas LEARNS Act, her top legislative priority. The new law creates Educational Freedom Accounts for all K-12 students, to be phased in by 2026.

Individuals choosing a Freedom Account will get 90% of what public schools get per student in state funding from the previous school year, equal to $6,600 for the current year. They can spend this money on private school tuition, textbooks, tutoring, and other approved educational expenses.

The new law also raises the minimum starting salaries for public school teachers from $36,000 to $50,000.

In Oregon, we have the dysfunctional government school monopoly. Students are assigned to brick buildings based on their ZIP Code. If families don’t like the assigned schools, too bad; they don’t get a refund.

Oregon public schools have lost 30,000 students since 2019. It’s clear that families want other options, but legislators aren’t listening.

It took Gov. Huckabee Sanders exactly 30 days to secure passage of the biggest school reform in Arkansas history. Gov. Kotek isn’t even trying.

Full-text: Cascade Policy Institute’s bill to make it easier for Oregon high school students to graduate early by passing the GED is getting a hearing this week. We hope you will reach out to the committee to voice your support for the bill.

This Wednesday, March 8, the Oregon House Committee on Education will hold a hearing on HB 3068.

Currently, it is almost impossible for an Oregon high school student to take the GED exam. In most cases, students must drop out of school before they’re allowed to take the GED.

HB 3068 lifts that restriction. If the bill passes, any student aged 16 or older can take the GED test. (Parental consent would be required for students under 18.) Students who pass will be awarded diplomas, meaning they will be considered high school graduates and free from compulsory school attendance.

HB 3068 will boost Oregon’s graduation rate because students who pass the GED receive diplomas and will be considered high school graduates.

HB 3068 will reduce Oregon’s dropout rate because students won’t have to drop out first before taking the exams.

Our bill has bipartisan support across both houses of the Oregon legislature. That’s because this is a common-sense solution that imposes no obligations on students, families, or the state. Even better, HB 3068 does not require any new spending or taxes.

Full-text: Last week’s snowstorm was more than a snow-pocalypse, it was a dystopian scene of the decline of Portland civil society.

The storm snuck up on all of us. Because it came so quickly and so hard, many drivers had to abandon their vehicles on the side of the road. In response, the City of Portland announced not only would it tow those cars, they’d also ticket the owners for abandoning them. The city made some people’s worst day even worse.

The next day, I went out to walk my dog in 11 inches of snow only to discover my car had been stolen from my driveway in broad daylight.

My wife said, “Why don’t the bad guys go after the abandoned cars?” It turns out they did. Many owners who had to leave their cars came back to find out they’d been vandalized and looted.

In the middle of the storm, the city opened the East Portland Community Center as a warming shelter. My friend who lives across the street from the center told me one night some of the folks who were warming up went over to the school next door, ripped the door off the sports supply shed, and looted it.

Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “Taxes are the price of civilization.” But Portlanders seem to be paying ever higher taxes and getting ever less civilization.

Full-text: This next week is going to be a big week for Oregon’s off-the-rails tolling projects. On Tuesday, the feds released their “Environmental Assessment” for the I-205 tolls. On Friday, a statewide toll advisory committee is meeting. Next Monday, a regional toll advisory committee is meeting.

In the Environment Assessment, the Oregon Department of Transportation reveals some eye-popping numbers:

If you think this sounds like it’s bad for the economy, you’re right. ODOT projects the toll project will cause job losses, reduce labor income, and have close to zero effect on economic output.

ODOT has finally shown its hand: Its I-205 tolling project will make the region noticeably worse off. It’s one thing to collect $132 million a year in tolls to make life better, but it’s an entirely different thing to impoverish families and stifle businesses with nothing to show for it.

Now is the time for your voice to be heard. ODOT is seeking comments on its Environmental Assessment, and the Monday meeting has set aside time for public comment.

Our policymakers need to hear from you. It’ll be too late once the toll booths go up.

Full-text: What do spy balloons, a state liquor scandal, and Oregon road tolling have in common?

The short answer is “not much”…except they are all examples of our government hiding stuff from us. And, when the government doesn’t want you to know what’s going on, it’s easy to assume the worst.

Those balloons are definitely not space aliens. We need to face the fact that we’ve been spied on for years. We’re only catching them now because we just started looking for them.

On the OLCC liquor scandal, the biggest unanswered question is, “Which elected officials got their hands on the fancy hooch?” Someone knows, but they’re not telling. It’s easy to assume the worst—that the scandal goes right to the top of Oregon government.

On tolling, ODOT gives only the vaguest hints of what the tolls might be. The first tolls are a little more than a year away. At this point, ODOT must have a general idea of what the tolls will be—but they’re not telling us. It’s easy to assume the worst. One estimate says we might be paying $15 each way from Wilsonville to the Washington border.

Ronald Reagan told us to “trust, but verify.” But, if you can’t verify, then you shouldn’t trust. That’s doubly true when your government gives you the silent treatment.

Full text: At the end of last year, the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission adopted rules banning the sale of internal combustion cars by the year 2035. It’s not a stretch to say these rules will affect every single Oregon household and Oregon business.

Many Oregonians outraged by the ban have asked, “How can they do that?”

How they imposed the ban is even more outrageous than the ban itself.

Nearly 20 years ago, the Commission approved rules that tied Oregon’s low-emission vehicle rules to California’s rules. Put simply, whatever California does, Oregon has to do it also. Under some quirky federal rules, if a state wants to follow California’s lead, it has to enact the exact same rules as California.

Last summer, California banned the sale of internal combustion vehicles and in December, Oregon followed suit.

Here’s where things get really crazy. Neither the EQC nor California’s regulators are elected. In Oregon, they’re all appointed by the governor; and in California, a supermajority is appointed by the governor.

Put simply, Oregon’s rules are determined by an unelected board in another state.

But there’s hope. This year, the legislature will be considering House Bill 3022. If passed, this bill would require that any rules related to motor vehicle fuels or emissions must first be approved by the legislature.

It’s time to bring policymaking back to the legislature, and HB 3022 is a good first step.

Full-text: Cascade Policy Institute has released a new report evaluating the effect of an Education Savings Account program on local public school district budgets.

“Education Savings Accounts Can Boost Per-Student Spending in Public Schools” examines funding for every Oregon school district. The report finds that if 5% of public-school students used an ESA program to transfer to schools outside the government-run school system, per-student spending for the remaining students would increase by an average of 1.7%.

In fact, evidence indicates it’s rising public school enrollment that puts the greatest strain on public school funding. Research indicates that states with the largest increases in public school enrollment tend to experience the biggest decreases in per-student spending. Moreover, states with smaller enrollment increases—if not declines—tend to be the states that have most significantly increased their K-12 spending per student.

Report author Eric Fruits concludes: “Contrary to critics’ concerns, school choice programs such as ESAs do not ‘defund’ public schools. Instead, school choice programs simultaneously reduce costs to public schools and increase per-student funding.”

Oregon students need more education options now. Children can’t afford to wait years or decades for slow-motion policy changes. Oregon should join the increasing number of states that have enacted ESA programs, so families can match their children’s needs and goals with the education environments that will serve them well.

Full-text: This is National School Choice Week, an annual celebration of opportunity in K-12 education. Students and families need more education options now. School choice means giving parents access to the best options for their children.

Critics of school choice programs like Education Savings Accounts claim such programs would harm district public schools by reducing their state funding. However, a new report published by Cascade Policy Institute shows ESAs do not reduce public school funding at the state level or for individual school districts.

The report, “Education Savings Accounts: A School Choice Solution That Can Save States Money,” examines the effect an ESA program would have on Oregon’s state budget. It finds that a universal program in which all Oregon students would be eligible—similar to Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts—would require a 3% increase in state spending on K-12 education. And, because many eligible students would not participate in the program, per-student spending for public school students would increase by 2%.

Contrary to critics’ claims, ESA programs don’t “defund” public schools. A carefully constructed program could provide school choice to students, with no noticeable effect on the state budget. Enacting a universal ESA program would be a significant step to help K-12 students get a solid education in the academic settings that are best for them.

Full-text: January 22-28 is National School Choice Week, a celebration of opportunity in K-12 education. Every January, thousands of independent events draw attention to the ways school choice brings quality education to millions of students.

Families increasingly believe parents should be able to choose among the schools and resources that best meet their children’s academic and developmental needs. Here are three ways Oregon leaders can expand options for students during the legislative session that begins this week:

1. Support Oregon’s thriving public charter schools by raising the 3% cap on charter enrollment. Removing the cap would allow successful charters to meet student demand.

2. Expand public school district transfer policies. This would create incentives for schools to respond to families’ needs and concerns, and reward public schools that achieve better outcomes.

3. Enact an Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program like Arizona’s. State-level education funding is allocated per child and paid directly to district schools, regardless of student outcomes or parent satisfaction. A portion of this funding should be converted to portable accounts for students to use where they learn best.

Thirty-two states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico already have student-centric educational choice programs. Oregon should join them, so families can match their children’s needs and goals with the educational environments that will serve them well.

Full-text:  My, how time flies. Just last month, I warned you that Multnomah County was coming for your gas stove. Now the Biden Administration is looking at a nationwide ban on gas stoves.

They claim it’s a consumer safety measure because gas stoves cause indoor air pollution. This is even though the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood, a comprehensive global study, found “no evidence of an association between the use of gas as a cooking fuel and either asthma symptoms or asthma diagnosis.”

This is all part of the left’s “electrify everything” program. Under their forced-electrification scheme, millions of Americans will have to replace their vehicles, stoves, furnaces, and water heaters with electric versions.

With no alternatives, the local electricity monopolies will be the only power providers. Toothless public utilities commissions will rubber-stamp every price hike, and Americans will be powerless to do anything about it.

Even worse, what happens when the electrical grid inevitably fails? Today, people with gas furnaces know they’ll still stay warm, and people with gas stoves know they’ll still be able to cook. But, when everything is electrified, everything goes down when the power fails.

When I was a kid, they told me nuclear war would bomb us back to the stone age. They never told me the journey back to the stone age would be many tiny steps that begin with banning gas stoves.