Letters to the Editor

[January 14th, 2004] GROUND RULE TROUBLE

In the opening of the "Voices" interview [Dec. 24, 2003], you state, "Sharon Kitzhaber agreed to talk with WW about her work, insisting that the interview not focus on her relationship with the ex-governor." So what do you do? You ask her many questions about the governor, including two about their personal relationship. This interview follows one focused on feminism and another that is handled fairly, which makes the lack of professionalism stand out even more. Byron Beck and Ellen Fagg should either go back to journalism school or quit and get jobs with Fox News.

Jennifer Nassif
Southeast 50th Avenue

CHARTERING A NEW COURSE

Kudos to the Nose [WW, Nov. 12, 2003] for calling attention to the fact that local politicians like Vera Katz and Diane Linn have failed to deliver on their promise to control health-care costs in the Portland school district. They have not been and will not be able to accomplish their goal, because the system itself is fundamentally unworkable.

There are two basic reasons: The School Board is a monopoly, and the teachers union is a cartel. It should not surprise anyone that a monopoly negotiating with a cartel leads to a high-cost outcome.

Apparently local politicians think that if bright, well-meaning "stakeholders" just spend enough time together talking things through, we'll resolve the dispute over health benefits. But that's naive. The most recently departed group of Portland School Board members were all highly educated, incredibly hard-working individuals who tried that approach, and it got them nowhere.

The attempt to make yet another round of hand-holding work is futile. The only way to break the stalemate is to decentralize power. Probably the quickest way to do that within the existing legal framework would be to encourage as many Portland schools as possible to convert to charter-school status, so that salaries, benefits, curriculum and working conditions could be negotiated on the basis of many disparate preferences, not just the preferences of a few political insiders.

But what is the Portland School Board's philosophy on charter schools? They're openly hostile, as reported by Nigel Jaquiss in his recent story on Chuck Arthur ["Failing the Logic Test," WW, Dec. 10, 2003]. The board is apparently more interested in preserving its own power than solving the district's out-of-control spending problems.

John A. Charles
Cascade Policy Institute
Southwest Alder Street