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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

It's "Save Our Schools Action Day" for Oregon Parents

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Thursday, May 31, 2012   

PORTLAND, Ore. - In communities across Oregon, today is "Save Our Schools Action Day." Groups of parents in more than a dozen cities have planned a series of events - including rallies, bake sales and letter-writing parties.

Portland parent Susan Barrett helped organize it. She says the events aren't a protest of the Oregon Education Investment Board (OEIB) - although some parents and educators question the need for another committee when they're convinced that what schools really need is stable funding, Barrett adds.

"The Investment Board should really be addressing the actual investment in our schools. They're not even addressing that - they're really just running around what actually needs to be done. We know what the problems are in our schools, and we know how to fix them - just let us do that."

The governor's pick for Chief Education Officer, a position created by the legislature last year, is Dr. Rudy Crew. He has been a top school executive in New York City and Miami-Dade County, Florida. The OEIB is expected to vote today on whether to hire him.

Barrett says Oregon parents have watched as music, languages, drama, sports, field trips and more are cut from their children's schools, while class sizes grow and school years shrink. When places like McMinnville and Newberg are selling baked goods to purchase textbooks, as they are doing today, she says it represents a bigger problem that the legislature has not managed to resolve.

"We need to address how we fund our schools - and at least for this one day, stop just fighting for the little Band-Aids. Let's address this at a more systemic level."

In Hood River, parents will spend the day asking people to sign petitions for Initiative 35, an effort to designate Oregon's corporate "kicker" tax benefit for public schools instead. The events by city for "Save Our Schools Action Day" are on the group's website, www.OregonSOS.org.



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