At its Nov. 10 workshop, the Camas School District board reviewed draft legislative priorities the district plans to present to state legislators this month, with committee leaders seeking board support to carry the recommendations to a legislative reception and to adopt the final priorities at the Nov. 24 board meeting.

Speaker 8, who led the priorities discussion, said the committee’s top, long‑term ask is "creating a pre k–12 ample and equitable financial system or a new model essentially is what we share with our legislators," a reference to a reconstituted prototypical funding model. The district plans to present the recommendations informally at a reception on Monday the 17th and pursue formal adoption on Nov. 24.

Committee members proposed four focal areas: (1) a long‑term prototypical funding model, (2) attention to MSOC (Materials, Supplies & Operating Costs) messaging and possible state assistance, (3) protecting current K–12 resources as a baseline value, and (4) fully funding special education statewide. Speaker 8 said Alan will address the special education ask and may be joined by a parent‑group representative; Aliyah Wolf was named to speak on transition‑to‑kindergarten data if that priority is advanced.

Board members debated how to frame MSOC. Speaker 8 warned that Camas has historically "underspent MSOCs," which could allow legislators to argue the problem is not widespread. Other board members recommended emphasizing that underspending reflects cost containment under strain rather than surplus resources.

Members also discussed keeping the shorthand message "protect what we have" as a baseline expectation rather than a numbered priority, so the district’s minimum expectation (not to see cuts to already funded programs) would accompany the three core priorities.

Logistics: Speaker 8 said the legislative reception will include student projects and that multiple legislators had RSVP'd, including Monica Stoner and Adrian Cortez and representatives from Congresswoman Perez’s office. The committee asked for a "quasi thumbs up" to bring the recommended priorities to the reception and said it would circulate a final, editable document for board review prior to Nov. 17.

Next steps: the board planned to review and officially adopt the priorities at its Nov. 24 meeting; participants were asked to attend the reception to signal informal support and to provide any edit suggestions before Monday.