Let’s Support Oregon HB 3010
March 21, 2007
I’ve been working over the past year or so with the local Portland chapter of BAEO: Black Alliance for Educational Options. We are supporting a current bill in the Oregon State Legislature HB 3010. This bill would be a pilot project within the poorest neighborhoods in Portland to allow low-income parents the same access to school choice that higher-income Oregonians already enjoy by providing 1,000 state-funded scholarships.
The basic details are:
- Students Must be Low-income: To enroll, the student must qualify for the federal free-lunch program and live in a neighborhood where a majority of the students in the local public school also qualify for a free-lunch.
- Qualifying Neighborhoods: Tentatively, the school neighborhoods that would qualify would be Boise-Eliot, Clarendon, Humboldt, King, Lent, Peninsula, Rigler, Rosa Parks, Sitton, Vernon, Whitman, Woodlawn, Woodmere, Binnsmead MS, George, Lane MS, Ockley Green MS, Portsmouth MS, Tubman MS, Jefferson HS and Roosevelt HS.
- Grant Amount: The grant would be equal to the per-student funding (ADM) amount from the State School Fund—roughly $5,000.
- No Negative Financial Effect on Portland Public Schools: The Portland School District will not lose any state funding during the pilot project.
- Random Selection: If more than 1,000 qualified students apply, grants will be given out by lottery.
We have a hearing tentatively scheduled with the House Education Committee Thursday, April 5, 2007 at 1:00 PM in Salem. We will be chartering a bus to take people down that would like to go and testify at the hearing. If you are interested in testifying send me an email and I’ll get you the details.
Again thanks to the other members of the School Choice Working Group. Let’s have a good showing down there. I know we have been laboring to make this come to pass — but anything worth doing is going to take some hard work. It’s not about us, it’s about the kids that will benefit from this opportunity.
Truth is…that’s the way it’s supposed to be anyway.
Posted in Politics, Portland, Oregon
Entrepreneur. Educator. Youth Advocate. Minister. DJ. Gamer. Geek. Regardless of the hat he is wearing at the time, Jomo Greenidge is a technologist who loves Jesus Christ, kids, gadgets, and helping people. He lives in the historical Irvington neighborhood in Portland, OR. When not blogging, working on projects, or spending time with his family and friends, you can catch him on Xbox Live attempting to improve his pathetic gamerscore.
April 24th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
[...] to the Oregon State Education Innovation subcommitee on behalf of House Bill 3010. My original post has the details of the bill [...]