Scott Bailey for school board

Although I once called Community and Parents for Public Schools (CPPS), the organization Scott Bailey formerly headed,  "lapdogs for school choice*," Bailey is clearly the better of the two candidates running for the Zone 5 school board position. And never mind the useless endorsements given his opponent by the Oregonian and Willamette Week.

Here's why.

I still don't know exactly where Bailey stands on choice and the district transfer policy.  Nevertheless he has certainly abandoned the Vicki Phillips-can-do-no-wrong stance he seemed to espouse when I first encountered him at one of Phillips' infamous "community conversations" at Sellwood Middle School a few years back. 

A case in point is Bailey's criticism of Phillips' much-ballyhooed K-8 reconfigurations.  He calls the K-8 reconfiguration "poorly planned, done too quickly, and ... poorly executed."  He's right.  He's also correct in pointing out the enrollment imbalances K-8's create, as well as the obvious inequities they promote in poorer sections of the district. 

Bailey is also upfront about the underfunding of schools in Oregon and what we can do about it.  He writes,

"Part of the problem is we’re a low tax state, particularly for businesses."

He then calls for "...raising the corporate minimum tax, or ... increasing the corporate tax rate."  He also proposes an increase in the "general level of personal taxes" and  getting rid of the "kicker".  

Bailey's opponent is Portland Business Alliance chief operating officer, Pam Knowles.  The contrast between the two on school funding is glaring.

Knowles says she is for "adequate and stable school funding"  but proposes little of substance to achieve that goal.  Her one concrete proposal is to adjust "the corporate minimum tax, while protecting and promoting the success of our small businesses."

"Adjust," not raise.  Spoken like a true business lobbyist.

More troubling though is Knowles' inclination to define a successful education as the ability to get a job:

"We all have the common goal of wanting a high quality education for our children so they can be productive workers and citizens. ...

"At the Portland Business Alliance I am working with PPS and Worksystems, Inc. to connect high school students with job exploration opportunities through a new program called BizConnect. I can leverage these and other relationships to increase opportunities for PPS students."

Innocent language, perhaps, but to me, Knowles emphasis on bringing businesses into the schools as partners for "job preparation" betrays a narrow vision of what a quality education is all about.

Scott Bailey is the clear choice in this election for the Zone 5 school board position.  

*(Here's a pertinent newsletter from CPPS regarding school choice.)

Comments

[C's List]

So, Terry, your Scott Bailey endorsement has been hanging out for five days with nary a comment (except Bailey of course is promoting the heck out of it). Maybe this reflects a reality that its damn hard to get excited about Bailey when he literally led the charge for Vicky Phillips' agenda in the Hollyrood/Fernwood community during the misbegotten "reconfiguration" process. He and his group were worse than lapdogs, as you described them. I'd say more like Phillips' henchmen. I don't trust Bailey's belated renunciation of Phillips now for several reasons. First, it was plain as day in 2006 that Phillips was ruthlessly steamrolling the community to preempt meaningful community participation (and possible resistance). Why was that OK with Bailey? Why did he sign on with Phillips as a de facto spokesperson for her in the Hollyrood/Fernwood community? Isn't it easy and convenient to distance himself from Phillips now that consensus has formed that her superintendency was a failure? Isn't it also convenient that his opponent cannot publicly distance herself from Phillips due to her continuing involvement with Portland Business Alliance? Why is anyone supposed to credit Bailey's current position on Phillips when he took exactly the opposite position when it counted--when Phillips was thwarting any meaningful public participation with her sham town halls? Doesn't this smack of political opportunism? Having said all that, I can't work up any real appetite for Bailey's opponent either. But, truth be told, aren't the voters here faced with a lesser of two evils type choice? Have you got a write-in recommendation for those of us who refuse to vote for a current or former member of the Phillips regime?

[Terry]

Interesting comment, C. Perhaps Bailey IS simply a political opportunist who has taken advantage of the diminished luster of the the Phillips' legacy.

I'm not quite as cynical. I'm willing to credit Bailey's change of heart on Phillips to a deeper understanding of the harm her policies have done the district. I also appreciate his advocacy for increased school funding with higher corporate and personal taxes.

But maybe I'm wrong, although the prospect of his PBA opponent winning the seat is chilling for me. That virtually guarantees business as usual on the board for the next four years. With Bailey, things "might" be different.

I assume, C, with your reference to Hollyrood and Fernwood that you're a Zone 3, not a Zone 4, resident. If I'm wrong, perhaps you'd be willing to put up your name as a write-in candidate. Although it probably would put Bailey's success at risk, I'd definitely consider promoting it.

I like your attitude.

[Zarwen]

I would construe C's comments as meaning (s)he is a Zone 5 resident. Zone 5 is the seat Bailey and Knowles are running for. (Zone 3 is currently represented by Bobbie Regan and will not have an election again until 2011.)

There was talk some months ago of writing in Lakeitha Elliott as a protest vote in Zone 5.

[Terry]

Yeah, I mixed up the zone numbers. Shoulda read Zones 2 and 5, with the assumption that C is a resident of Zone 2 --Wynde's area.

Lakeitha sounds good. I know her as a good school activist and certainly an advocate of equity.