For more than two years, the OCN news team has been reporting on stories from the state capitol and other places where elected officials affect our lives. They also built one of the nation’s premier government transparency websites (GovDocs) and investigated many stories of poor financial management in the public sector. It has been a privilege to provide this service, and we hope you are better informed as a result.

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Therefore, before we reach that point, we have decided to halt operations of OCN. The popular GovDocs database, which has public policy value regardless of the political philosophy of the database user, will be transferred to the Cascade website, where we will continue to expand and update the searchable information as appropriate. Sarah Ross, the political reporter for OCN, will move over to CPI as our Communications Director, where her experience as a daily reporter and online media specialist will add considerable value to our advocacy work.

As with any other commercial organization, Cascade regularly experiments with new products and services. Most of them are short-lived, because the marketplace is dynamic. Attitudes, perceptions, and political realities are constantly shifting, and Cascade’s strategies and tactics must change as well. We are proud of what we accomplished with OCN as an educational venture but feel we must reallocate our resources into more direct support of our mission. We are confident that the OCN investigative reports and the GovDocs archives will have ongoing value, and we will build on that work.

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State Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Hillsboro

SALEM, Ore.- With around 100 employees, Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) handles several different issues involving businesses of all types and the people who work for them. Yet, many people have never heard of the agency and are unfamiliar with what it does.

The non-partisan, statewide race for labor commissioner has drawn two candidates: incumbent Brad Avakian and Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Hillsboro. Both candidates have between now and the November election to convince voters that they are qualified for the position.

Avakian was appointed to the position in 2008, replacing Dan Gardner, who resigned to take a job with the IBEW union in Washington, D.C. At the time, Avakian was a state senator and previously had served in the Oregon House of Representatives.

BOLI provides technical assistance to businesses throughout the state to help them navigate their way through federal and state employment laws. Avakian estimates that the agency handles around 15,000 calls per year in that area.

As part of those efforts, Avakian said, BOLI also offers around 200 seminars across the state per year to train employers on those various laws.

“It’s a great way to help businesses be successful,” Avakian said. “Much of it is completely free.”
Apprenticeship training programs are certified by BOLI, Avakian said, and the agency also protects citizens through its wage and hour and civil rights divisions.

“We do an immense amount of work and handle around 50,000 phone calls per year,” Avakian said. “This job is much more than being a bureaucrat and getting work done. It really is a dynamic position that addresses much bigger issues.”

Starr grew up in Hillsboro. His father, Charles, also served in the legislature. In fact, the two served there simultaneously for several years.

“I came from a family that was politically active. We were involved in a variety of efforts,” Starr said. “My dad served on a school board when I was younger. Politics wasn’t foreign to me growing up.”
After graduating from Portland State University, Starr started a small construction company that specialized in residential remodels and commercial projects. Starr said he is counting on that experience to help connect with voters.

“Ultimately, with my small business background, I understand the challenges that businesses face in this state,” Starr said.

Although the office and race are both technically nonpartisan, endorsements for the candidates are falling along traditional party lines. Starr is endorsed by several Republican legislators, former labor commissioner Jack Roberts, the Beaverton Area Chamber of Commerce, Oregon Small Business Association, Oregon Small Business Coalition, Washington County Farm Bureau, Oregon Family Farm Association, Washington County Business Council, Oregon Vehicle Dealers Association and county commissioners throughout the state.

Avakian, who spent 15 years as a civil rights attorney, is drawing support from several Democrats in the legislature and many different labor organizations, including AFL-CIO.

The three areas that Avakian has focused on in his role as labor commissioner are workforce training, ending wage disparity and reforming the way that the agency prioritizes its cases. He adds that the agency runs much more efficiently than it did before he took it over.

“When I got to the bureau, it had a four-year backlog of cases,” Avakian said. “I completely eliminated that within the first 18 months. We continue to not have any backlog now.”

Starr is counting on his legislative record to help convince voters to give him the nod in November. In particular, he said he is proud of the work he has done on the state’s highways, roads and bridges.

“There’s no question that I played a role in virtually all of the transportation projects that have taken place over the last decade,” Starr said. “That’s probably the place where I’ve left the biggest mark.”
Other accomplishments mentioned by Starr are the expansion of enterprise zones, the passage of a law to put predators away for 25 years if they’re convicted of abusing someone 12 years old or younger, and his stances against increasing taxes and the size of state bureaucracy.

“My voting record, I think, appropriately reflects my suburban Washington County district,” Starr said.

Avakian has spent the last several months balancing his duties as labor commissioner with the rigors of the campaign trail. Prior to announcing his bid for re-election, he ran for the Congressional seat vacated by the resignation of David Wu.

But Avakian insists that BOLI is and has been his top priority and adds that the dual roles have caused many long days and late nights.

“Every time I’ve had a campaign while I served this office, I made sure the job was getting done,” Avakian said. “I’m at the bureau every day.”
Starr said that he plans to crisscross the state over the next few weeks to meet voters, talk to business owners and raise enough money to mount an effective campaign.

“It’s a sprint,” Starr said. “We recognize that.”

As he’s engaged in his campaign, Starr said that business owners throughout Oregon who also have operations in other states constantly tell him it’s more difficult to do business here than elsewhere.

“I think the voters are smart enough to look at the records of both candidates and make a choice about which candidate will make it easier to grow Oregon’s economy and which one has a record of growing government,” Starr said.

The candidates served in the legislature together and know each other as a result.

Avakian said that although he considers Starr a “nice fellow,” the challenger has a “very different perspective about protecting employees in this state.”

“The trick to being successful in this role is to have a very balanced approach,” Avakian said. “The commissioner must have strong relationships with the business community and strong relationships with the labor community.”

SALEM, Ore.- Chief Judge David Brewer of the Oregon Court of Appeals released the Annual Court of Appeals Report Wednesday morning, stressing a need in the court for more judges.

“Even though for more than 90 percent of appellate litigants the Court of Appeals has the final word in their case, no new judges have been added to the Court in 35 years,” wrote Brewer.

The legislature approved adding three additional judges to the court earlier this year. Those judges would become operative in fall 2013. Brewer said this is not enough to sustain current practices.

“Those improvements notwithstanding, merely to ‘tread water’ with its existing caseload, the court needs four new judges and corresponding staff,” wrote Brewer in the annual report.

The judge wrote that the court has worked to “modernize and improve its internal processes and case deciding function” with practices like two-judge panels, eliminating de novo review in equity cases, and adopting modern business practices to allow for more efficient use of court resources.

“Despite those best-effort measures, the court’s ability to perform its essential, historical mission is being incrementally impaired,” he continued.

Brewer added that with an increasing population size and an increasing number of new laws, the court struggles with providing justice to litigants without delay. The promise of justice delivered “completely and without delay,” to which he referred, is contained in the first article of the Oregon constitution.

Brewer, who no longer will be the court’s Chief Judge on April 1, said the court is “mindful of the challenges that the Legislative assembly faces in balancing critical interests.”

“Today, the court faces new challenges, perhaps more daunting than any in our history,” he concluded. “But challenge begets the opportunity for greater service.”

SALEM, Ore.- Portland resident Jeff Reardon was really looking forward to a peaceful retirement after his last year of teaching at David Douglas High School. But instead, the Vietnam veteran has decided to take on Rep. Mike Schaufler, D-Happy Valley, in the House District 48 Democratic primary.

Schaufler has served in the Oregon House of Representatives since 2003. Prior to that, he was on the Happy Valley City Council from 1997 to 2000.

Some press accounts over the past few months have raised questions about Schaufler’s use of campaign funds for personal expenses. Those, and other issues, helped interrupt Reardon’s initial plans and prompted his candidacy.

“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to step up to this position,” Reardon said. “A couple of us were pretty concerned about it and wanted to make sure we had a good, strong candidate against Mike. Somebody’s got to do it.”

Reardon’s candidacy has already been endorsed by Senator Rod Monroe, D-Portland, and former secretary of state Bill Bradbury. He has hired a professional campaign team, and all indications are that he is taking this race very seriously.

The top issues for Reardon are education and veterans services.

“Being a veteran, I feel that’s something I really want to be involved in,” he said.

Aside from being a teacher, Reardon has also spent 10 years as a school board member. He said that “allows me to see both sides of the issues and understand education from both perspectives.”

Reardon said that he would like to see more emphasis put on vocational programs in schools. To illustrate his point, Reardon said that David Douglas High tried to hire a metal shop teacher five years ago. The instructor was qualified to teach the subject, he added, but did not have a teaching credential.

“I would like to see them elevated to a much higher level. There needs to be greater interaction between business and the schools,” Reardon said. “We need to create a greater balance between the core subjects being emphasized now, especially with all the standardized testing, and the elective-type classes that seem to be kind of left in the dust.”

Schaufler did not return multiple attempts at seeking comment for this story. However, J.L. Wilson, a vice president of Associated Oregon Industries, praised Schaufler for his efforts in the legislature.

“There’s a prevailing sentiment that doesn’t appreciate the need to create Oregon jobs on that side of the political spectrum,” Wilson said, adding that Schaufler deviates from that and has been attacked for it.

While Schaufler is “no hero of the conservative movement,” Wilson predicted that business groups will support him, along with the private sector unions that have long been part of the incumbent’s political base.

“There should probably be more Mike Schauflers, not fewer,” Wilson said.

View of the Wallowa Mountains, part of Senate District 29. Photo by Autumn Sweater/Flickr.com

SALEM, Ore.- Republican voters in Oregon Senate District 29 have two candidates to choose from in the May 15 primary election: Umatilla County Commissioner Bill Hansell and business owner Maryl Featherstone.

SD 29 has been represented by Sen. David Nelson, R-Pendleton, who has decided to retire from the legislature. The district encompasses the northeast corner of the state, bordering Washington on one side and Idaho on the other, and including the cities of Hermiston, Pendleton, La Grande, Union, Enterprise and Joseph.

Hansell, who is in his eighth term and 30^th year as commissioner, said that during that time he has enjoyed a “very proactive and good working relationship” with Nelson.

“Dave has been a very effective senator for the district and a great example to follow,” Hansell said. “When he decided he was not going to run for re-election, he contacted me and asked if I would consider running for the position, endorsed me and encouraged me to do it.”

A graduate of McEwan High School in Athena and the University of Oregon,

Hansell is running on his experience in county government. Over the years, he also has served as president of the National Association of Counties and the Association of Oregon Counties.

By contrast, Featherstone is touting her success in business as her primary qualification for office.

The Pendleton High School graduate is the owner of the Graybeal Distributing Company, started by her father 57 years ago.

“Over the last eight years, we basically doubled the business and doubled the number of counties we work in,” Featherstone said. “I’m running as a businessperson versus someone who’s been in public office for over 28 years. I’ve created jobs. I’ve made payrolls.”

During the past decade, Featherstone said that the business has gone from being in two to five counties, expanded its building twice and grown from 21 to 46 employees.

The company pays for all of its employees’ health care and most of their families’ insurance and provides 401(K) and other benefits, Featherstone said.

“I was raised under the value system that you work extremely hard, pay attention to detail and take care of your employees,” Featherstone said. “We all work hard and everybody prospers.”

Hansell said his top issues for the campaign are water, wolves and the availability of timber.

“If we can’t figure out a way to get timber supply from our national forests, the rest of our mills are going to close in the next few years,” Hansell said. “Hundreds of jobs will be lost. It makes no sense to me that we can’t figure out some good federal policy that will enable us to harvest sustainably as we always have in the first 100 years that the national forests were in existence. If we don’t, they’re going to go up in catastrophic fires.”
Featherstone said that she plans to contact as many voters on an individual basis as possible between now and the May election.

“If I’m going to Salem, I need to represent the constituency of Eastern Oregon, and I want to hear from that constituency,” Featherstone said. “I want to hear individuals’ issues, concerns and what they want to have addressed.”
Hansell has been endorsed by the Oregon Small Business Coalition.

Photo by TheBon/Flickr.com

SALEM, Ore.- Three Democrats are vying for their party’s nomination for Oregon House District 36, which includes Southwest Portland and part of its downtown area.

The seat is currently held by Rep. Mary Nolan, D-Portland, who is running for a seat on the Portland City Council. Republican Bruce Neal is the only member of his party to file for HD 36 and will face the winner of the Democratic primary in the November general election.

Of the three Democratic candidates for HD 36, Nolan has chosen to endorse Jennifer Williamson.

A fourth-generation Oregonian, Williamson was the first in her family to attend college. Her higher education ambitions were threatened early on by cuts in financial aid, which prompted Williamson’s initial involvement in the public policy arena.

Williamson was referred to the office of U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield and ended up working for him after finishing her undergraduate degree at the University of Oregon.

From there, she earned her law degree at Willamette University and subsequently worked at Intel, the Davis Wright Tremaine law firm in Portland, the Oregon Department of Education and Portland State University.

She’s not the only candidate in the HD 36 race with a legal background.

Sharon Meieran has the uncommon distinction of being both a lawyer and a doctor.

“It’s a somewhat rare combination. I went into law initially so I could help people and be an advocate,” Meieran said. “It’s a great and noble profession, but I felt like medicine was probably my true calling.”
Meieran specialized in trademark, copyright, business and intellectual property law right around the time that the Internet was starting to take off.

“That was the real beginnings of websites and domain names,” Meieran said.

These days, Meieran is an emergency room doctor. She said that gives her a valuable perspective on health care policy, during a time when the state of Oregon is beginning to transform its entire delivery system.

“The emergency room right now at this point in time is a particular microcosm of what’s going wrong with the health care system,” Meieran said. “I regularly see people in the emergency department in stages of chronic illness who, if they had been diagnosed earlier, given assistance in managing their medications for chronic illness and received minor interventions along the way, they would not be as sick. They would not be in the emergency department and would not be admitted to the hospital. It’s heartbreaking.”

Also in the race is 26-year-old self-employed computer programmer Benjamin Barber. He describes himself as a “technocrat” and has many ideas involving the use of technology to improve the transparency of government.

“My assessment of politics is that a lot of people enter into politics without much understanding of the underlying systems that run society,” Barber said. “I would like to bring that sort of insight into government and at the same time, bring government to individuals.”

If elected, Barber has pledged to provide the text of every bill, as well as a video explaining its provisions, on his website and enable constituents to vote on them. He has also promised to wear a camera all day and stream it on the Internet so constituents can keep track of his daily activities in the state capitol.

Barber said that as a legislator, he also will provide public access to his e-mails, bank records and phone records for the sake of further transparency.

In addition to Nolan’s, Williamson has obtained the endorsement of several other legislators. They include Sen. Chip Shields, D-Portland, Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, Rep. Chris Harker, D-Beaverton, and Rep. Brian Clem, D-Salem.

Williamson has been endorsed by former governor Barbara Roberts, Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Castillo, former state treasurer Randall Edwards, the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, Oregon AFL-CIO and the ILWU Oregon Area District Council.

“I have really good relationships with a wide variety of people who are engaged in making public policy in Oregon, and that is reflected in my endorsements,” Williamson said.

Since November, Williamson has started canvassing the district. She said she is committed to continuing that activity six nights a week until the primary election.

Meieran is taking a similar approach and said she enjoys the individual interaction with voters. Meieran is a co-president for the PTA at her kids’ school, and she said she plans to continue working as a physician if elected. Sen. Alan Bates, D-Ashland, has done the same for the several years that he has served in the legislature.

Barber, whose motivation to run started in 2003 when an open source software bill he was trying to get passed was scuttled by special interests, said he will not seek endorsements or money for his campaign.

“I don’t feel comfortable trying to go through the vote buying process,” Barber said.

SALEM, Ore.- Governor John Kitzhaber announced Monday morning that Margi Hoffman would be joining his staff as the governor’s energy policy advisor.

Hoffman currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Oregon Operations for Strategies 360, an advocacy and public affairs firm in Portland.

She has focused her most recent work on clean energy regulation and incentives, “removing market barriers to bring more energy efficiency and renewable energy online.”

According to her Strategies 360 biography, Hoffman “has played a key role in defending the State’s business energy tax credit and other similar programs.”

In a statement to the press, Governor Kitzhaber said, “Pursuing an aggressive clean energy strategy will ensure that we compete for the jobs of the 21st century.”

“She is a great addition to our team, and we’re lucky to have her,” he wrote.

SALEM, Ore.- Thuy Tran’s parents came to the United States as refugees with little more than the clothes on their backs. Now, one generation later, Tran is a successful optometrist, small business owner and Democratic candidate for Oregon House District 47.

Most of HD 47 is east of I-205, with a portion stretching up to the Washington border. The seat is currently held by Rep. Jefferson Smith, D-Portland, who is running for Portland mayor.

The winner of the HD 47 Democratic primary election on May 15 will go on to face Republican Maggie Nelson in the November general election.

Tran is joined in the primary race by Jessica Vega Pederson, a longtime Democratic precinct committee person in the district, and Andrew Haynes, a 21-year-old college student, Reynolds School Board budget committee member and home health care worker.

Pederson, a software and information technology professional, has earned the endorsements of Rep. Mary Nolan, D-Portland, Rep. Jules Bailey, D-Portland, Rep. Chris Garrett, D-Lake Oswego, Sen. Rod Monroe, D-Portland, the Oregon League of Conservation Voters and Multnomah County Commissioners Judy Shiprack and Deborah Kafoury.

A 2008 graduate of Reynolds High School, Haynes said he has every intention of changing the world for the better.

“I am sick and tired of seeing greed and corruption,” Haynes said. “I know that I can make a difference.”

Haynes said he offers a unique perspective on both health care and education, which are shaping up to be two of the biggest issues of the 2012 campaign.

His father is terminally ill, and Haynes has seen the struggles his family has faced in dealing with insurance companies to obtain critical treatments.

“I want to make health care easier on everyone,” Haynes said.

As a college student, Haynes is also very concerned about the rising costs of higher education.

“I’m very disappointed that it takes people going into debt just going to school,” Haynes said. “When I’m done with school, I’m going to have a lot of debt. It tears me apart to know that when I’m done, I’m going to be in debt up to my eyeballs.”
Tran said she is running because she has seen East Portland experience some very difficult times in recent years, with fewer resources available to combat growing social problems.

“We need to ensure that families, children and our neighbors feel safe in their homes,” Tran said.

Also troubling to Tran is the number of small businesses in the district that have closed their doors for good.

“There are a lot of empty buildings out there on Halsey and Stark and Division,” Tran said. “That is not a healthy sign for any community.”
The mother of two children, Pederson said she plans to raise money for the race as well as canvass the district.

“It’s all part of the package of being able to reach voters,” Pederson said.

Haynes said he plans to do a strictly grassroots campaign and will not be doing any fundraising or advertising. His work and school schedule are both flexible enough to enable him to do so, and Haynes said he has thus far knocked on at least 1,000 doors.

Tran said she will be actively fundraising, seeking endorsements and canvassing.

“My path to victory, I feel, is engaging the people of the House district,” Tran said. “It’s going to be grassroots, and I will be reaching out to the community, engaging them, telling them who I am, asking them to vote for me and asking them to engage their neighbors into the process and raising the voice of House District 47 and outer East Portland.”

By SCOTT JORGENSEN

SALEM, Ore.- In the seven years since he started serving in the Oregon legislature, State Senator Doug Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls, certainly has seen his share of the good, the bad and the ugly. But despite all that, Whitsett said he’s feeling better about the work that lawmakers have been doing over the past couple of sessions.

“I’ve felt that in the last few years, we’ve been a lot more relevant in addressing problems,” Whitsett said. “For that reason, I want to be here to continue that effort.”

Whitsett, who represents Senate District 28, will face a primary challenge May 15 from fellow Republican Karl Scronce. No Democrat has filed to run in the primary or the general election for that district.

Scronce said that when Whitsett first ran, he supported him “somewhat.”

“Later on, I became witness to some of his positions on agriculture, particularly timber,” Scronce said. “I’m a lifelong farmer, but I thought it was very partisan and kind of unrealistic in terms of what we could accomplish.”

A graduate of Lost River High School, Scronce also holds a bachelors degree in business administration from Oregon State University (OSU). He began getting involved in organizations representing agricultural interests in the mid 1990s and has served on many boards since then.

Those include the Klamath Water Users Association, the Upper Klamath Water Users Association, the Klamath Basin Power Alliance, the Oregon Wheat Growers League, the National Association of Wheat Growers, Oregonians for Food and Shelter and the Klamath County Natural Resource Advisory Committee. Scronce has served as president or chair of several of those groups at various times.

Whitsett graduated from Crook County High School and then attended Central Oregon Community College and OSU. He holds a degree in veterinary medicine from Washington State University.

Characterizing himself as a “strong fiscal conservative,” Whitsett is a longtime member of the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee. He estimates that over the last two years, he has spent two-thirds of his time at the state capitol working on budgets.

The legislature adjourned its first official annual session at the beginning of March. Whitsett said that the shortened session didn’t give citizens adequate opportunity to participate, adding that there was only a 12-hour notice for most work sessions. Some were on one-hour notice, Whitsett said, and that practice began shortly after the session got underway.

“This session, the legislature tried to do too much in too short of a time,” Whitsett said.

Scronce was among those who signed on to the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA), which calls for the removal of four dams along the Klamath River. Whitsett disagrees with that stance.

“I am opposed to the agreement the way it was written and am opposed to taking the dams out,” Whitsett said.

In 2001, Scronce had 500 acres of land tied up in a project, at which point his water was shut off. That helped inspire his later involvement surrounding these issues and shapes his perspective on the dam removals to this very day.

The terms of the KBRA, Scronce said, will make it easier for farmers to plan in advance and to make decisions regarding planting and cropping.

“I think that’s smart on their part in being proactive,” Scronce said.

Whitsett said that, overall, his experience as a state senator benefits his constituents.

“After almost eight years, I have a pretty good handle on the district and know the people and their concerns,” Whitsett said.

But Scronce insists that he could do the job better and is actively fundraising and using some of his own money to mount this primary campaign.

“I think he has the tendency to grab on to a position and hang on to it,” Scronce said. “It bothers me that he plays politics in such a way.”

Photo by graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

PORTLAND, Ore.- Oregon K-12 students have until April 1 to apply for transfers to public schools that opted into the state’s new open enrollment law.

School boards and districts had until March 1, 2012 to decide whether or not they would accept new students from outside their district based on the recent open enrollment policy put into place by the legislature.

Legislators approved a bill in the last few weeks of the 2011 legislative session which opened the doors for school districts to adopt open enrollment policies.

Previously, students wishing to transfer to other school districts had to obtain approval both from the district they were leaving and the district to which they wanted to transfer. The 2011 legislation, however, eliminated the need for students to receive approval to leave a district and required school districts to decide if they would open their district up to a bulk group of transfer students or to evaluate each on a one-by-one basis.

The Eugene School District, for example, opened up 1,725 seats to new students, while it currently serves 16,000.

Communications Coordinator for the Eugene School District Kerry Delf said her district previously allowed transfers to neighboring districts on basically a one-to-one exchange, so neither district would lose or gain students. Delf said the school district always had more students seeking enrollment than they had spaces under that exchange program.

But Delf said that the Eugene School District has seen declining enrollment from a change in local demographics, so the schools had the capacity to accept a large number of transfer students.

“We didn’t want to artificially limit it when we have the capacity,” said Delf, noting that she does not expect the district to actually reach that cap.

Delf said the district had received a few hundred applications the last time she checked but there likely would be more students applying closer to the April 1 application deadline.

Nearby schools in Lane County are also taking advantage of the new open enrollment law. Springfield opened up over 900 seats to add to its existing 11,000. A much smaller district, McKenzie, opened 120 seats, half the number of students it currently serves. The only Lane County district of the 16 that is opting out of open enrollment is Siuslaw, which currently serves 1,400 students.

Other counties, like those surrounding Albany and Corvallis, were more apprehensive about taking the state up on its offer of open enrollment. In Linn County, only Harrisburg and Central Linn school districts approved open enrollment, while the largest districts like Greater Albany and Corvallis did not.

Carol Reeves, communications specialist for the Corvallis School District, told Oregon Capitol News that Corvallis has “always had an open enrollment policy.”

Reeves said all of the surrounding school districts have an agreement that they will all accept each other’s students.

“It’s not been an issue in this area,” she said, pointing to the agreement which encompasses Albany, Corvallis, Philomath, and Alsea.

Reeves said there is no formal cap for the school district on that agreement but that seats are based on availability in the school.

“We can’t take any more students into our district then what schools are able to hold,” she said.

Even with the school districts around Corvallis taking open enrollment students, Reeves said she didn’t expect those polices to have a “dramatic effect” on the Corvallis district.

Reeves added that her district wanted to be able to maintain control of the students they could keep and accept at their school. She said the Corvallis School District wanted to be able to send students back to their home district if the district encountered problems like behavioral or attendance issues.

The Alsea School District, just two miles west of Corvallis, opened up 70 seats for open enrollment offers.

Marc Thielman, superintendent of the Aslea School District, said he didn’t expect to fill that many seats but that he has enrolled 14 students so far, an increase of more than 10 percent for the district which serves about 130 students.

Thielman said his community has seen a massive change in the demographics because of the decline in timber in the area.

“The community has gotten a lot smaller and consequently the school district has lost about half of its population,” said Thielman, adding that his school board saw open enrollment as an opportunity to change that.

“The open enrollment became a rallying cry of hope,” he told Oregon Capitol News.

“We saw it as an opportunity to market the things that are special about this small school here in Alsea,” said the superintendent, pointing to the district’s goals of academic achievement, technological infrastructure, community relations, and transparency.

Thielman said his district has been very aggressive in its marketing of open enrollment, sending out 10,000 brochures and then 10,000 flyers and agreeing to bus in students who decide to transfer to the rural school district.

Like Corvallis, the southern Oregon county of Jackson showed similar reluctance to participate. Of the nine school districts in that county, the Ashland School District alone granted approval for out-of-district students to attend.

The state’s largest school district, the Portland School District, also declined to take part in the open enrollment process. But many surrounding districts, including West Linn-Wilsonville, Gresham-Barlow, Canby and Gladstone, among others, agreed to offer open enrollment seats for transfer students.