BerniePDX / Portland for Bernie

If you are or were a PFA family or teacher, please take this short Friends of Preschool for All survey to share your story of positive impacts and suggestions for improvements!

We need your help to defend Preschool for All from the 1% and Governor Kotek, who’s joined their campaign to kill off our national model of a program – on track to be available free to all kids in Multnomah County by Fall 2030.  The program is:

• Offering lots of choices for families of schedule, language, cultural context and size of setting 
• Providing livable wages, benefits and professional development for teachers
• Funded by a small tax on high-income households

The Guardian | June 27, 2025

“The lesson of Mamdani’s campaign is that it is not good enough just to be critical of Trump and his destructive policies. We have to bring forth a positive vision and an analysis of why things are the way they are. It is not good enough to maintain a status quo that is failing most Americans. At a time when hope is in increasingly short supply, people must have the sense that if we work together, if we have the courage to take on powerful special interests, we can create a better world – a world of economic, social, racial and environmental justice.

Will the current Democratic party leadership learn the lessons of the Mamdani campaign? Probably not. Too many of them would rather be the captains on a sinking Titanic, rather than change course.

Then again, it doesn’t matter what they think. The establishment threw everything they had against Mamdani – millions in Super Pac money, endorsements from ‘important people’, a hostile media – and they still lost.

The future of the Democratic party will not be determined by its current leadership. It will be decided by the working class of this country…

We’re going forward. And no one is going to stop us.”

Read Bernie’s full article here.

Gov. Kotek wasn’t able to sneak through SB 106 – the bill which would have killed Multnomah County’s Preschool for All program – during the last days of the legislative session. Why? Because people like you sent over 70,000 emails to elected officials urging them to Save Preschool for All!

Multnomah County Chair Vega Pederson and Commissioners Moyer, Singleton, and Jones-Dixon also held an emergency press conference about the governor’s cynical attempt to kill PFA.

From our friends at Preschool for All: After the voters and County Commissioners delivered Salem this passionate rebuke, the Senate Committee backed off and tabled the bill, at least for this legislative session, which adjourned late last night. This means that Preschool for All is safe—FOR NOW.

However, on Thursday the Governor doubled down on her choices (as well as her inaccurate data and wishful thinking about the program’s scope and goals).

We’ve won the battle, but the war is far from over. Make sure to sign up for email updates from Friends of Preschool for All here.

Add Your Name To Save Preschool for All!

BACKGROUND:

Multnomah County’s Preschool for All program is under attack from the richest, most powerful people in the County, with the Governor doing their dirty work.

Tina Kotek spent weeks pressuring County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson to freeze collection of the preschool tax for 3-4 years and is now stealthily ramming a last-minute bill to kill PFA outright, SB 106, through the Legislature at the end of session.

We have worked too hard to develop, win, and create the best preschool program in the country to let this happen. Preschool for All will have 3,800 spots in the Fall, ahead of schedule to reach all the County’s children whose families want to enroll them by Fall 2030.

We cannot allow this capitulation to the demands of the richest residents who are using false data to claim the tax is driving the wealthy out of Multnomah County and who are attempting to overturn democratic process and the will of the people. We will save Preschool for All, but we need your help!

TAKE ACTION:

1)  Click here to send an updated letter to say NO ON S.B. 106! So far over 25,000 people signed onto the original petition to protect PFA.

2) Call the Senators voting on this bill to tell them you strongly oppose it!
Kathleen Taylor, sen.kathleentaylor@oregonlegislature.gov, 503-986-1721
Mark Meek, Sen.MarkMeek@oregonlegislature.gov, 503-986-1720
Deb Patterson, Sen.DebPatterson@oregonlegislature.gov, 503-986-1710
Mike McClane, Sen.MikeMcLane@oregonlegislature.gov, 503-986-1730
Bruce Starr, Sen.BruceStarr@oregonlegislature.gov, 503-986-1712

3) Check to see if you can submit testimony opposing SB 106, by by clicking this link, then clicking the “Register to Testify” menu item. Outraged opposition at the power grab against Multnomah County voters who approved Preschool for All by 2 to 1 is enough, but if you want more to say to legislators, friends, or family, check out Friends of PFA’s website, especially the Mythbusting page!

4) Join the Friends of Preschool for All email list.

5) Share this with your friends!

Congress must act before it’s too late. Send a message to your members now demanding they call on the Trump administration to withdraw military troops from our communities and rescind the deployment order.

Following dangerous ICE raids across Los Angeles where federal agencies arrested and abducted many of our loved ones and neighbors, Angelenos responded by taking to the streets and exercising their First Amendment right to protest. During those demonstrations, LAPD and federal law enforcement agencies aggressively arrested members of the press, protestors, organizers and others – including the leader of California’s largest union, David Huerta.

Now, President Trump has deployed thousands of federalized National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles – and is threatening more troops in our communities. This dangerous abuse of power is a direct threat to our basic constitutional rights: lawful protest, free expression, and speaking out against injustice.

Multnomah County’s nationally recognized climate justice and sustainability programs are at risk of being cut. Sign the petition here, and email the commissioners: district4@multco.us, district3@multco.us, district2@multco.us, district1@multco.us

These programs directly protect our communities from pollution, rising energy costs, and climate disasters like heat waves and wildfire. If we don’t speak up now, we could lose essential services that save lives, support vulnerable residents, and hold corporate polluters accountable. Local officials need to hear from you – your voice can help stop these cuts and keep Multnomah County on the path to a safe, healthy, and just future.

former PSU-AAUP President and community leader, Mary King, has announced her candidacy for Sheryl Manning’s PSU Board of Trustees seat. Email Governor Kotek and ask her not to reappoint Sheryl Manning to the PSU Board, appoint Dr. Mary King!

This choice couldn’t be starker: Mary King, a retired PSU Economics faculty member and PSU-AAUP leader, a champion of faculty and academic professional working conditions and student learning conditions, and an Oxford educated economist who focuses on the public good.

Or Sheryl Manning, the Board of Trustees member who’s most vocally championed cutting “to the bone,” who comes out of Arthur Anderson, and owns a significant amount of Portland’s commercial real estate. Email Gov. Kotek today!

Take action today and send a letter to Oregon lawmakers asking for them to support SB 916B and by doing so, protect working people who are using their legal right to strike.

Striking workers and their families should not be pushed into poverty for exercising their legally protected right to strike. This policy helps level the playing field, helps put money back into the local economy during a labor dispute, and helps ensure negotiations happen sooner rather than later.

“SALEM, Ore. – Today, the Oregon House passed SB 951, landmark legislation to ensure that medical practices in Oregon are owned and controlled by licensed medical professionals, not corporations. The bill responds to a growing national trend of corporate and private equity takeovers of independent medical practices, which data says is putting profits over patients.” Read the rest of the press release here.

• Tell Your Rep: Vote Yes on SB 916 for Unemployment Insurance for Striking Workers
• Ask Mayor Wilson to Save Union Jobs
• Tell Congress: Save the EPA, Social Security, and the VA
• Tell the Ways and Means Committee: Support HB 2966 to Study Creating a Public Bank
• Stop Providence’s attempt to sellout to private equity
• Click the Events tab to see upcoming events!