After more than a generation of cuts to public education, we have a chance to turn things around this November. Measure 97, spearheaded by the Better Oregon campaign, will put more than 33% more money into our schools: resources for art, music, and world languages, along with the supports and services so many of our students need.
Measure 97 accomplishes all this by getting the largest corporations in the world, like Comcast, Bank of America, and Monsanto, to finally pay their fair share in Oregon taxes. This is particularly important because Oregon has the lowest corporate tax rate in the entire country.
These multi-million dollar companies are paying taxes and investing in every other state and there is no reason why they cannot do the same in Oregon. But they are working hard to preserve their unfair advantage, and spending millions on TV and radio ads against Measure 97.
Fortunately for us, organized people can still beat organized money, but we need every educator in the state to step up and go canvassing door-to-door, or join one of our phone banks. Face-to-face communication is absolutely the most effective way to debunk all the misinformation coming from the big corporations.
There are four main things we are asking from each school:
- Confirm the name of the building organizer for each location.
- Pick a date when you and your coworkers can go canvassing immediately after work in the neighborhood surrounding your school.
- Pick a date when your building will participate in an evening phone bank at the PAT office.
- Join us for a union-wide canvassing weekend between now and election day.
As part of our effort to pass Measure 97, we’re happy to report that Jacob Rivas from the Oregon Education Association will be working with PAT from now through November. If you have any questions or want to learn how to get involved, contact your Building Representative, or contact Jacob directly, [email protected].