Please vote. Vote for your country. Vote for your community. Vote for your students.In this contentious election season, remember there are many races on the ballot. Read below to learn about important local races that your leaders and colleagues have interviewed and recommended for office because they support our goals for public education. These decision makers will be in the position to impact you and your students in the coming year.

Janeen Sollman has served on the Hillsboro School Board since 2009 and as Board Chair from 2011-2013. As an active volunteer and resident of House District 30 for 24 years, Sollman has been a long-time advocate for her community. She has helped homebound seniors with Meals on Wheels, assisted homeless families with the Washington County Project Homeless Connect, and served as a committed volunteer in local schools to make sure that every student has the opportunity to succeed.

If elected, Janeen will work tirelessly to make sure our schools have the resources they need to keep teachers, reduce class sizes and make investments in Career Technical Education and dual-credit programs. She’ll also work to create partnerships with local businesses to ensure students have the ability to study, train, and update their skills to compete for good-paying jobs while they are in high school. She’s proud to be endorsed by the Oregon Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers – Oregon, and the Oregon School Employees Association.

I’m Susan McLain, and I believe our unique community deserves a strong voice in Salem. I raised my family here and taught in our local schools for 42 years. I am deeply committed to our community and I have worked my entire life on the issues that matter most to our families. I have the experience and dedication it takes to fight for great schools, advocate for a strong economy that supports working families, and protect Oregon’s environment.

As an educator, I’ve seen the positive results of investing in students with time, attention, and proper funding for schools. I envision a state where every student, regardless of race, gender, ability or income level has access to a high quality public education. In order to achieve this, we have to create and maintain a quality workplace where teachers and students feel valued and safe in the classroom. When re-elected, I will make sure stakeholders like HEA have a voice in the conversation about what quality investment in education looks like.

You’ve probably heard about Measure 97. There has been a lot of information over the airwaves – and we want you to know the facts! Measure 97 is the corporate tax measure that makes only large and out-of-state corporations pay their fair share in taxes so we can fund education, health care and senior services.

• Oregon needs 97 if we want to have smaller class sizes and affordable health care.
• We are currently ranked 50th, dead last in the country in corporate taxes. Oregon’s low corporate taxes are a major reason vital services like education, health care and senior services are underfunded in Oregon.
• Companies like Comcast and Wells Fargo will spend more than 20 million dollars to defeat this measure. Why are they spending so much? Because they know that 97 holds big corporations accountable to pay their fair share while it protects small businesses and consumers.
• Less than 1% of all businesses operating in Oregon will pay the tax, which preserves our competitive market and keeps consumer costs down.
• Section 3 of the measure clearly states that all money raised by 97 goes to education, health care and senior services.

Corporate Profits have increased 170% in the last decade; while working families’ income has decreased in that same time period.

As a principal, I have had the privilege of working in Hillsboro, side by side, with the most amazing and dedicated teachers and staff. I retired to run and serve as Mayor of Hillsboro. As Hillsboro grows to become the 4th largest city in Oregon and HSD experiences growth and challenges, it is critical that our Mayor knows the District from the inside and out. I am the only candidate with this experience and knowledge. Having served on the City’s Budget Committee, Transportation Committee, and City Council, I have protected keeping SRO’s in our schools, provided $1.2 million to HSD to restore a full school year, budgeted for after school programs, grants to schools, ushered in new programs such as Future Connect, and added sidewalks and crossing beacons in school zones.

As Mayor, I will work to serve all of Hillsboro by expanding and strengthening the partnerships between HSD and the City of Hillsboro, providing balanced housing so those who work in Hillsboro can live in Hillsboro, increasing the return on investments offered to large corporations so our students will have more opportunities and programs, and implementing the educations goals contained in Hillsboro’s 2035 Vision Plan. But I’ll need your support to make this happen! Please vote for Steve Callaway for Hillsboro Mayor!

For more information visit callawayformayor.com

Aron Carleson served on the Hillsboro City Council for 8.5 years and as Council President and Chair of the Transportation Committee for six. She has served as the Executive Director of the Hillsboro Schools Foundation for the past nine years raising millions of dollars for programs educators want for their classrooms. Aron Carleson gets the work done.

Aron has fought for schools for decades. She served as the co-chair of Citizens for Schools, lobbying in the Oregon Legislature in the 90’s for school funding. As a parent, she ran plant sales, carnivals, grad night, and more in support of where her family lives, works, and plays. Aron served on the district strategic planning teams in 1999, 2004 and 2009. She worked on Bond Campaigns to build new schools, promoted funding from the city and county for adding days back to the school schedule, and will continue to fight for partnerships for our schools with the city, as well as with the community and businesses to make sure you have the tools you need to educate our youth. Aron Carleson is someone you can count on to get the job done.