Posted: Monday, November 6, 2006 12:00 am
Schools lost funding
As a result of the passage of Ballot Measure 5 in 1990, the state assumed responsibility for K-12 funding and implemented an equalization formula across the state. This was fully implemented by the 1994/95 school year. Since that time the amount of funding per student received by the Greater Albany Public School District has not kept pace with the Consumer Price Index (CPI, often referred to as "inflation").
Adjusted for CPI the amount received per student in 2005/06 was $144 less than in 1994/95. This equates to the district receiving $1.1 million less in 2005/06 than if funding had kept pace. The cumulative effect of funding not keeping pace with the CPI has resulted in a net loss to the district of $4.7 million since 1994/95.
But the district is not a consumer. The district, just like a company like Weyerhaeuser, is an employer, and the inflation rate for employers is called the Employment Cost Index (ECI). Since 1994/95 the ECI has outpaced the CPI. Adjusted for ECI the amount received per student in 2005/06 was $722 less than in 1994/95. This equates to the district receiving $6.4 million less in 2005/06 than if funding had kept pace. The cumulative effect of funding not keeping pace with the ECI has resulted in a net loss to the district of $27.5 million since 1994/95.
Russell Allen, director of business, Greater Albany Public Schools
Russell Allen was responding to comments on the editorial page Friday.
Madness and the homeless
To those attending the Homeless Summit:
A man with a belt wrapped around his head is defending a car full of belongings from thieves he's imagined, with a fly swatter. The lines on his face and uneven haircut tell you that life has never been easy. It is unclear if he was born in this state or if the choices he's made along the way have been stressful enough to ease him into insanity. The only thing that is clear is that he's a man and he's still standing. No one at the shelter notices him acting out and staggering back to voices that are heard by him alone.
Nothing can surprise people in a homeless shelter. Most people are busy hushing their own imaginary voices. Breakfast is at 7, lunch at noon, dinner at 5, and the showers are open twice daily. The time in between is a rat race where swimming and sinking look exactly the same. The same way you'd imagine recess in prison. There's the quiet and the loud, the sane and the insane, the users with drugs and the users without drugs. They all say they'll break your fingers if you touch their stuff.
No one here is a victim of homelessness. Not one. Ask the mad man talking to himself making no sense at all why he is here and he'll look you in the eye and tell you: "My money went into my arm. I did too much dope. I drank until I woke up homeless every morning."
People in Albany are homeless because they enjoy using drugs or they are mentally unstable. The police are nothing but a financial burden to homeless people. Nothing is done for substance abuse because it is an individual problem that cannot be fixed without the desire to quit from the individual using. It will be a problem as long as the substance makes the user feel good.
So why not provide examples with real opportunities for people that have chosen to stop using? I know it cannot be done for them, but I also know that most readers have never looked for a job as a felon with drug charges on his record. If you have a problem with homelessness then you have a problem with substance abuse, and no one is perfect.
We all have weaknesses for something, and these people are criminals for their weakness. What they really need is jobs and a reason to stop using. Harassment and tickets from Albany police will do nothing for anyone since the homeless have no income to pay this ticket.
There is nothing you will gain from harassing poor people, and the problem lies within inability to assist the mentally unstable. We could learn from them if we only paid attention to them.
The problem exists when the community gives the homeless people no reason to take back their dignity and self-respect once they hit rock bottom. As long as they're allowed on the street they deserve a shot in the system.
Leigh Alexander, Albany
Protect property rights
Measure 39 needs the support of every homeowner. Property rights are a principle upon which the United States was founded.
The Supreme Court approved the use of eminent domain to force people to sell their homes to a city which then turns the property over to a private developer. This is not fair.
The original purpose and intent of eminent domain was for public use only.
This provided for schools, roads and other public needs. Passage of Measure 39 would re-establish the original purpose and intent of eminent domain for the citizens of Oregon.
Wayne Giesy, Philomath
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