Oregon School Employees Association



Oregon School Employees Association

School Board Candidate 2019 Questionnaire

Candidate Information

Name

Address/City/ZIP

Phone number Email

School district

School board position seat

As a candidate for a position on the school board, you are invited to participate in OSEA’s local chapter school board candidate review. The review begins with a candidate submitting answers to the chapter’s candidate questionnaire. The review process may also include an invitation to speak to our members at a chapter meeting and/or participate in a candidate endorsement interview.

Below are a series of issues important to OSEA members followed by a related question(s) to answer. This questionnaire provides each candidate an opportunity to respond in writing with their views/opinions on subjects of interest to our chapter members. Answers to the questions will be shared with the membership.

Please read the information and candidate questions. If you wish to participate in our candidate review, answer (on a separate piece of paper) the questions on the following pages as completely as possible. Send your responses to:

______________________________________________________________________

If you need further information or have questions, contact:

_______________________________________________________________________

The Oregon School Employees Association (OSEA) represents the classified employees of this district. As district employees and members of OSEA, we are important members of the education community. Our collective voice and financial resources are used at the local, state and federal levels in support of public education, adequate and stable education funding, special education programs, safe and healthy education facilities, nutritional services, safe student transportation and many other issues that directly impact the quality of education provided to the students in this district.

The candidate review process is another example of how much our members care about education, our students and community. Unlike the regional, state and national labor pool used to fill teacher and administrative positions, the positions of classified within the district are filled from our community labor pool. Many of our district classified employees attended school here, as do their children and grandchildren. We see our students as our children and we have the same expectations and hopes for each student as do their parents. We want the best possible for each and every child. We take pride in the work we do and the role we have in education. This is who we are. And, as a member’s union, so is OSEA.

We know the decisions made by our board not only impact the work lives of our members, but also the social, economic and political environment of our community. The State of Oregon may provide more funding today than in the past, but our schools still belong to our community.

Thank you for participating in our candidate review process and for stepping forward to be a candidate for this important position in our community.

I. Candidate Background

Question: Why are you seeking a district school board position? Please identify the knowledge, skills and abilities that you will bring to the board if elected.

II. Outsourcing

School districts and other public agencies struggling with inadequate budgets sometimes look at outsourcing services to the private sector as a means to save money. While initial contract terms may save money, studies have shown that over time contracts with for-profit providers do not provide the same quality of service and cost significantly more than in-house operations. Additionally, for services that require significant capital assets, once the service has been contracted the agency may not have the funds to return the service in-house even if it would be cheaper to operate that way, thus costing taxpayers more for less. In recognition of the higher long-term costs and the service quality problems associated with outsourcing, public agencies are required to conduct a rigorous cost/benefit analysis prior to contracting.

Unfortunately, when agencies violate these requirements, the accountability controls currently in place are too slow and very costly. OSEA supports establishment of an effective enforcement mechanism to assure that agencies perform adequate due diligence when considering whether to outsource public services.

Question: Will you support legislation that provides an effective and timely method of enforcing the steps public education institutions must take when considering outsourcing services to assure that they conduct financial due diligence and the continuation of quality, cost-efficient services?

III. Part-time and no benefits

Over the past 20 years, districts throughout the state have responded to budget cuts by splitting full-time classified positions (more than four hours) in half (example: a six-hour position split into two three-hour positions). This action lowers wages and makes many classified employees in these three-hour positions ineligible for employer-provided health benefits.

This type of response to budget restraints makes classified employees second-class employees. This same approach is not used to lower payroll costs for teachers or administrative positions.

Question: Would you support a district policy that directs the superintendent to make full-time status (more than four hours) a priority when creating new positions and review current positions for the purpose of creating full-time status?

IV. School breakfast and lunch program

Good child nutrition is a critical component to a student’s ability to learn. This fact is gaining national attention. In Oregon, which is recognized as having a high rate of hunger — especially among our children — the need for a school breakfast and lunch program is absolutely critical. Currently throughout the state, districts have adopted the position that school breakfast and lunch programs should be self-sufficient and district general fund dollars should not be used.

Question: Do you support using, if needed, district general fund revenue to improve and/or maintain a district in-house breakfast and school lunch program?

V. Health insurance costs

Classified school employees are being priced out of health care coverage or forced to take the lowest benefit plan offered through the employer. As the lowest paid employees (in many cases) within the district, the high cost of the employee share of health insurance premiums creates a disproportional number of classified employees who do not have adequate health benefits compared to higher paid teachers and administrators.

Question: Would you support a proportional progressive type of shared cost of health insurance premiums based on an employee’s salary?

VI. Student vouchers/online K-12

For many years, certain groups and individuals have made a serious effort to privatize K-12 public education by diverting resources from public schools to other education providers through the use of student vouchers and for-profit and nonprofit online K-12 schools.

Question: Do you oppose or support the use of public education revenue to provide student vouchers? Do you support charter schools that are privately run but publicly funded by the district? Do you support the privatization of K-12 schools to for-profit or nonprofit online K-12 businesses?

VII. Safe and Healthy Learning Environments

When we think of workplace violence in schools we often think of the school shooting incidents widely reported in the media. However, violent outbursts and other disruptions occur every day in classrooms, on buses and on the playground because of challenging student behaviors. Ranging from unruly verbal speech to physical confrontation, these outbursts often include actual assaults on education staff and students, leading to minor and major injuries. The traumatic impacts of this statewide crisis are starting to come to light as an increasing number of incidents and injuries are reported by staff.

In this stressful work environment, retention of classified educational support staff is also a growing concern. These employees do much of the day-to-day work with difficult students and their availability helps to more safely manage the learning environment. But there is a lot of turnover in these positions due, in part, to the low hourly pay of education assistant positions (most of which are already part-time and have less benefits than teachers and other full-time staff). Funding education so that schools can retain knowledgeable, well-trained and full-time education staff is a priority for OSEA. Besides advocating for increased training and staffing for the benefit of all students, OSEA has long sought changes in laws and regulations to improve day-to-day safety.

Since 2015, the Oregon School Employees Association (OSEA) has spearheaded Work Shouldn’t Hurt, a campaign to ensure that educators remain safe while providing a quality learning environment for students with profound intellectual and developmental disabilities. In 2017, OSEA helped pass House Bill (HB) 3318, which gives special education assistants more information to avoid injury. When employees are put at risk, school districts must:

• Perform a functional behavior assessment on students with an individualized education program (IEP).

• Allow classified staff to have input into the development, review or revision of behavioral intervention plans.

During this time, OSEA also successfully petitioned Oregon OSHA to change a rule that had exempted K-12 school districts from stringent recordkeeping regulations related to workplace injuries. As of 2018, new recordkeeping rules apply to school districts. Injuries resulting in loss of consciousness, restricted work activity, job transfer, days away from work and medical treatment beyond first aid must be reported. These rules allow regulators, as well as workers and our union, to get copies of injury records.

In this legislative session, OSEA is backing HB 2676, which raises the cap on the proportion of students qualifying for additional weight in the state school funding formula from 11 percent to the current statewide average of 13 percent of the student population. This change would bring part of the funding formula more in line with what is actually happening in schools.

Question: Will you support HB 2676?

OSEA is also supporting House Joint Memorial 3, which calls for passage of congressional legislation to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) commitment of 40 percent.

Question: Will you support House Joint Memorial 3?

VIII. Unemployment insurance for classified

Even though employers are obligated to maintain unemployment insurance coverage for classified educational employees, school employees are ineligible for unemployment insurance when it is needed most, during school closures. This ineligibility is strictly applied only to staff hired by an educational institution. Employees of private contractors doing the same work as classified employees in an educational institution are eligible.

Question: As a board member, would you support state legislation granting eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits to classified employees during scheduled shutdowns?

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