Rep. Gene Whisnant visits Sisters schools

Rep. Gene Whisnant, R-Sunriver, spent last Friday morning in Sisters schools. Most of his time was devoted to answering questions from an assortment of students, teachers and administrators.

Many of the questions revolved around a central theme: Why doesn’t the state provide more money for the schools? Whisnant made a variety of points in response:

• While he sympathized with the notion that schools need more money, he emphasized that for the next biennium the Legislature must work with the revenue that will be produced by the current tax system.

• Tax reform, by which many means a tax increase, “is not going to happen this year, guys.” He said legislators were badly burned by their experience with Measure 30, which was soundly defeated by voters in February 2004. The Legislature reluctantly approved the measure to provide $800 million in additional money for the current biennium, but opponents referred it by petition and stomped it at the polls.

• Some legislators advocate a sales tax, but only if it could replace an equivalent amount of other taxation. “What good would that do?” Whisnant asked. He acknowledged that it might provide more stability but it would not bring in more money.

• When a student pinned him down on which segment of education stands in greatest need, he said that in his view, “The one that suffered most in the last budget was the community colleges.”

• When a teacher asked bluntly whether education was his No. 1 priority, he said, “No.” But he quickly added that he will work to provide as much money for the schools as possible. In general terms, he said he considers it his highest priority as a freshman “to help restore voters’ confidence in the Legislature and the system” and build “trust and credibility.” He said people “want to be sure we’re not wasting money.”

• One high school class bored in on prisons. Whisnant said, “I don’t want to build a prison,” referring to the proposed, twice-deferred prison project in Madras. “But 75 percent of the people who commit crimes do not go to prison, so the ones who are there really need to be there.”

Another state prison is probably needed, he conceded, but the problem of recidivism will remain because the state doesn’t have enough money to provide adequate drug and alcohol treatment programs for inmates.

At several points the visitor pitched a bill of his own and a proposal by House Speaker Karen Minnis, R-Wood Village, both of which are opposed by the Oregon Education Association, the state teachers’ union. His measure, House Bill 2964, represents an alternative to the proposed use of systems development charges for school maintenance and construction.

Minnis’s proposal would dedicate 50 percent of state personal income tax revenue to K-12 schools and guarantee the schools an eight percent annual increase in state funds.

Whisnant came to Sisters at the invitation of School Superintendent Ted Thonstad. He is a member of the education subcommittee of the Joint Ways and Means Committee, which constructs the biennial state budget.

A journalism graduate of the University of North Carolina, he is a retired Air Force colonel who flew combat photography missions in Vietnam. He was appointed to fill a House District 53 vacancy in September 2003 and was elected to a full two-year term that November. His district covers most of Deschutes County except for Bend and Black Butte Ranch.

His day in Sisters began with a gathering of elementary and middle school teachers at Sisters Elementary School. The teachers were spending the day in inservice sessions; their students had the day off. Elementary Principal Tim Comfort took Whisnant on a quick tour of the building after the meeting.

At the high school, Whisnant answered questions in two English classes and then joined about a dozen administrators and teachers, for sandwiches and conversation in the library.