John (Waz) Wasielewski

Oregon families are at a crossroads. Our schools and neighborhoods are under pressure, not from a lack of resources, but from a failure of leadership to invest where it matters. This year’s legislative session should have delivered bold solutions and advocacy. Instead, we saw more of the same. While lawmakers prioritized procedural wins over practical fixes families needed immediately, Oregon families continued to face rising housing costs, an overdose and homelessness crisis and deep cuts to public schools. What we needed was urgency and focus. What we got was inaction.

During this year’s school board elections, education funding dominated the conversation. The Legislature boasted a billion-dollar boost to the State School Fund, but in reality, that money just kept the lights on. It didn’t reduce class sizes, restore lost programs or build anything new for our kids. In Lake Oswego, that “increase” barely covered inflation. As a teacher and a resident of this district, I felt compelled to serve on this year’s bargaining team for the Lake Oswego Education Association. When our school district was forced to cut more than 10% of its staff, I saw firsthand educators and your children crying in classrooms. I saw furious parents and administrators caught in impossible tradeoffs. We had to choose between a colleague’s job and a child’s needs. And everyone lost.

It’s not just education. Homelessness and addiction are escalating. More Portlanders are dying in the streets. These tragedies are no longer confined to downtown; they’re reaching into Lake Oswego, the Southwest Hills and beyond. Yet meaningful legislative advocacy and action have been rare. One promising bill, HB 2138, aimed to allow more middle housing across the state. Our representative voted no, passing up a practical solution. Unfortunately, this was only one of many missed opportunities. That wasn’t just disappointing, it was short-sighted. Our safety and our children’s futures depend on real solutions, not more delay.

Yes, policymaking is complex. But the priorities and voice of our legislators is a choice. In this session, our representative prioritized distant economic projects while local concerns, classroom funding, rental stability and public safety went unaddressed. While our representative tried and failed to push his statewide business development program hundreds of miles away, our schools were forced to cut reading specialists and lost support staff, which will directly impact early literacy students’ success and will force parents to pick up the tab. All the while the drug and homelessness crisis crept further into our communities.

Good governance is rooted in community. It listens. It acts. It puts resources where they’re needed most, not where politicians want most. It’s not enough to vote for someone who checks the right boxes. We need someone who checks in with our community, regularly. Our politicians aren’t elected to serve the entire state. They were elected to fight for us and our interests. And this session, they didn’t.

We need leaders who show up for the people they serve. Leaders who prioritize prevention, housing, support services and student success. That’s how we create neighborhoods where families feel safe and every child has a shot.

As the dust settles on this session, the real question is: are our elected officials representing our values, or just polishing their resumes?

If you’ve never gotten political before, now’s the time. Because the future of this district isn’t written in stone, it’s shaped by people who demand better.

• Talk to your neighbors about what’s happening in our schools.
• Demand answers from your politicians about why basic needs aren’t being met.
• Support candidates who prioritize our classrooms and communities.

Let’s choose better.

John (Waz) Wasielewski is a student support specialist, sixth grade teacher, cross country and track coach and GSA facilitator at Lake Oswego Middle School.