This year, OEA partnered with the Oregon Student Association (OSA) to conduct Lobby Day, 2011. Community colleges represented included Treasure Valley (a LONG drive!), Mt. Hood and Clackamas.
David Shellabarger (math) and I met up as we entered the meeting room. Lindsey Capps, our OEA lobbyist, gave us our instructions. The room was alive with student buzz. At 12:30, we filed out to start the march and rally. We marched to the Capitol Building , accompanied by chants reminiscent of the 1970s. Governor Kitzhaber and several legislators gave short speeches. The rain held off.
Dave and I visited three representatives to talk about the need for stable and adequate funding for community colleges.None of them oppose such funding. They all believe there isn't any money available to give us more than the Governor's Budget calls for: $410 million. We pushed for them to consider some options, but there didn't seem to be much willingness to try any harder than they already have. Just for the sake of comparison, in 2007, community colleges received $500 million in state support. With exploding enrollment growth, we must "make do" with 18% less money.
Sometimes we do these things, such as showing up and trying to persuade others, and we never really know whether it was effective. We have a tendency to judge it worthless if we don't see the results we want. I believe our efforts were worthwhile even though we may never know whether they were effective.
In solidarity,
Rosemary
No comments:
Post a Comment