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Editorial: The good, bad and the ugly Exhale. The Ashland Youth Activities Levy will be around for another five years, and yes, the tax rate remains the same. School supporters are to be commended for their work this spring. They went down to the wire Tuesday night - calling people at home and even picking up ballots around town - to ensure passage of a funding mechanism for school athletics and extra-curricular activities. While there is clear reason to be proud of the community for paying its share to maintain quality schools, we've arrived at this place through an ugly confluence of political buck-passing and bill-dodging, combined with ill-founded legislation. The mess in Salem almost needs no further comment. A cabal of conservatives is leading the majority of the House of Representatives to logjam any new revenue measures that would help schools around the state, to say nothing of health care and law enforcement. They espouse "living within your means" as an excuse for watching state services collapse, even while their federal counterparts are logging the deepest budget deficits since the Reagan administration. This election, we thought, would be about demographics: Would the growing elder population of this town care enough to pay for schools? Looking at the numbers, apparently they do. That's a positive sign, and we hope it continues in the future as Ashland becomes the retirement mecca of Southern Oregon. There is bad news in all of this. Remember, Briscoe Elementary is closing in June because of declining school enrollment and budget constraints. While enrollment woes can be blamed on the high cost of relocating to Ashland - even the high cost of living here through years of property tax and fee increases - the school budget debacle is in part due to a sour economy and in large part due to a Legislature fully out of tune with its electorate when it comes to securing revenue for public education. Yes, congratulations are in order, and we offer a hearty "well done" to the tireless volunteers who brought this levy to passage. Yes, you can exhale now, but beware. With the way this state has chosen to finance its schools, you may be looking for more money from the community sooner than you think. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -