S. Renee Mitchell fired the first serious warning shot that an attempt to get voters to re-up for another income tax to keep Multnomah County schools might not get as much support from the same folks who were (grudgingly or not) on board next time.

Sure, it’s safe to predict that Don McIntyre and his ‘we’re taxed enough as is’ ilk would be lining up in opposition. But Mitchell? She’s got two kids in PPS now, for starters, and has come down in support of public schools before.

The straw that broke the camel’s back for Mitchell seems to be the recent refusals given several new charter school applications from the PPS board, if I’m reading between the lines correctly.

In Portland, though, the district — which recently shut down five neighborhood schools and is trying to squash any new charter schools — doesn’t have this trusting relationship with voters, parents or teachers.

And she makes it clear she can’t be courted yet another time:

Come election time, though, I will not be so moved by the district’s warmed-over scare tactic: Empty your pockets or your children will suffer. My memory is not that short, my wallet is not that fat and, as much as I value my children being in their current public schools, there are other options.

But while I’m frustrated that we’ll be forced to go it alone (or with other Multnomah County schools), my frustration is less with my local board or officials than it is with this state’s antiquated, creaky government - from the way our state’s government is set up and run (nepotism and cronyism, anyone?) right down to the state budgeting process for schools, which leaves the PDX metro area paying in far more than we receive back from the state.

Well, even though I don’t like the system or the process, my kids and I are in for the long haul. Which means I’ll be one of the people fighting for more funding for PPS - even if it means supporting yet another iTax if that’s what it’s going to take to adequately fund the schools that Salem’s abandoned.

Related posts:

1. One in three
2. Wouldn’t Fewer School Districts Help Our School Funding?
3. Why I’ll be voting yes on iTax, rev 2
4. Who Will Investigate Diann Linn?
5. Support the SUN school program