We Claim A Victory

I haven't posted much the last few days over this whole virtual school spat mainly because things are moving so fast as this farce they call a legislative session winds down. Here is the timeline in a nutshell:

*Tuesday, you'll remember, SB 767 with 32 or 34 amendments on it passed the House. You saw the passionate testimony of Matt Wingard and Kim Thatcher in attempts to kill it there. What you missed was the carrier of the bill, Democrat Sara Gelser. You can hear her on the archived audio, and I recommend if you want to follow this, that you do. On the House floor, she stuck her neck out numerous times saying "the intent is not to shut down schools."

Well, okay, as written with the amendments, Ms. Gelser, it will. Here is what is so bass ackwards about that House ruling. She promised up and down that this bill, if passed, would go to a Senate subcommittee where the current verbage would be amended to assure that no current students would be disenfranchised. So essentially, the House voted on what one representative called a "virtual bill" and "please excuse us if we don't believe you". Yep, a lot of corruption and ill intentions have been revealed with this bill, they need to know we don't take "trust me" at face value. Anyway, it passed. And the clock is ticking on the legislative session.

*It goes to the subcommittee, which took until Friday to finally convene. Lots of wrangling going on. And once they all got seated, count 'em 52 amendments! Even as I write this, there are 56! Yowsa!

*Today is Saturday, it just passed the Senate.

Here is what all that amending did. It protected us. It amends the wording so much it now truly does what the Oregon Education Association (OEA) says it does, although it really isn't needed. It governs online virtual schools. Personally?? I think that is the Board of Education's job, but hey, we set out to protect our school, and whether it passes or not at this point, our school's enrollments, charters, etc. are protected.

You want to know what is at issue right now being wrangled over? The OEA targeted ORCA so much with this bill, that the way the silly bill is written, it seriously disenfranchises Oregon Virtual Academy (ORVA), the online virtual school started by the Board of Education itself in response to ORCA. Good gravy! They want to shut us down so much they forget there are several other virtual schools in this state! Bureaucrats. So, get ready, we'll be up to 60 amendments when we're done, I am not kidding.

Here is something else that is interesting. Because several of us stuck our neck out and filed that complaint revealing the true intention of the OEA with this bill. You have to understand, up until that press conference 10 days ago where it was shown that OEA representative, Laurie Wimmer, wanted the schools shut down by this date or date--up until then it really was a battle that looked like this:

US: "You're trying to shut us down!"
OEA: "No, we're not!"
US: "Yes, you are!"
OEA: "No, we're not!"
etc.......

That email showed the true intentions of this bill, and a lot of Democrats took a second notice. In their defense, on this issue only (there have been a few other votes on other issues that have me steamed right now.....), they spent hours and hours last week hammering out these umpteen amendments to purposely not shut down schools. Although the moratorium is still there and a task force still has to govern this issue, right now the schools are protected. The task force is a battle for another day, specifically, next February.

That press conference and complaint also caused another thing to happen. Many many state representatives and state senators are thinking twice about taking Laurie Wimmer at her word when she bounces into their offices. She lied to them in conference and she lied to them on recorded testimony. They should think twice before taking her word for it.

As parents, in all of this, as a group, we are now considered a force to be reckoned with in our state's capital. I hope so, we'll be watching them day one on that task force.

In the meantime, we are planning a party. I am so proud of our group of parents, kids, and lobbyists. They worked hard. They can be proud they acted above board, with honesty, tenacity and won a hard battle that was truly David and Goliath. It is an honor to know these great people.

And we are planning a party. We deserve it! More on that later.

Let the governor decide if he is going to pass this thing or not. First, he's got to read the thing! Fifty plus amendments and all! Have a great weekend Ted! I know I am!