Oregon s special election Tuesday, May 18, 2021 included numerous school board races and local funding measures.
Credit Melorie Begay / KLCC
Lane County Special Election results
In unofficial results, a levy to renew funding for OSU Lane County Extension has been approved by voters in Tuesday s special election. A levy to fund the Lane Fire Authority is also passing.
A measure to create a special law enforcement district in the Mohawk Valley looks too close to call as of Tuesday night with 51% against it and 48% in favor.
And a bond for the McKenzie School District looks to be in question with 57% voting no.
By Henry Houston and Taylor Perse
The May 18 special election didn’t have the national or state policy stakes of the two 2020 elections, but the results did bring some diversity to local education boards. From contested races for seats on the Lane Community College Board of Education to Eugene School District 4J and Springfield School District, it was an education-based election.
In Eugene School District 4J, Laural O’Rourke, a Black woman, won Position 2 by a landslide with 81 percent of the vote, defeating Harry Sanger who received 17 percent. In Position 6, Maya Rabasa, a woman of color, is the clear winner with 85 percent of the votes. Although Dakota James Boulette dropped out of the race, he still ended up with some votes.
As they say, all politics is local, and in Lane County, local politics gets heated when it’s school board elections.
The issues are huge in K-12 education racism and diversity, COVID, standardized testing and more. We are impressed by all the people willing to take on this tough and important duty. Good board members are simultaneously independent thinkers, willing to question how the board is voting and why, and yet also able to function effectively with other board members they may not always agree with to get things done.
It’s great when voters and candidates get fired up about the school board especially if it means positive changes for the kids. So knowing that Eugene and surrounding communities take their school boards seriously, our small editorial board Zoomed with as many candidates as we could, and sent surveys out to the ones who we either couldn’t squeeze in or who didn’t respond. Some candidates didn’t respond in time or at all.
Holli Johnson
Two candidates are challenging the newly appointed incumbent for the Lane Community College Board Zone 1 seat that represents West Eugene, Veneta and Florence. Holli Johnson was appointed March 3 to the board and is running to keep her seat. She is the first African American person on the board in the school’s half century of existence.
Johnson’s interest in community colleges began two decades ago, when she walked onto the campus at Santa Barbara City College and asked for help. “On that day,” she says, “I knew that I was going to work in financial aid and scholarships. So I went out in the community and helped every person I knew in my social circle apply for financial aid and taught them the ropes.”
Holli Johnson was appointed to the Lane Community College Board of Education this week. She was chosen by unanimous vote by the board to fill the Zone 1