Current representative for House District 53, Democrat Emerson Levy, will face off against Republican Keri Lopez, the current director of the Redmond School Board, for the Oregon House seat in the November election.
Lopez, who's running on the premise of adding balance to the legislature, leaned on her expertise from the Redmond School Board for many regional issues. In discussing school funding during an interview with the Source Weekly, Lopez addressed issues with reading skills and chronic absenteeism.
"It's really hard to get kids into their seats, especially after Covid," she said. "I'm really proud of the fact that we've moved the needle, the Redmond School District, on both of those things," said Lopez.
They did this, she said, with increased accountability while celebrating improvement in students.
Levy, who also focuses a lot of her efforts on the future and safety of children, also hopes to focus efforts on improving the school system. Some of her main priorities include making sure special education is funded, and addressing absenteeism.
Levy hopes to continue aligning with the governor's task force, while also listening to teachers on the ground, she said during our interview.
On housing, Lopez said she'd like to see tighter timelines for building homes. "We need to reduce the time it takes to get a permit, from start to finish," said Lopez. She wants to look at why the process of building homes takes so long and find a solution to get more houses up.
While adding that she and Lopez align on many housing issues, Levy said she plans to continue her work on housing packages that will bring more money in for affordable housing. She also hopes to look at creating more workforce housing and looking at condominium reform. "We think that condos are a big part of the missing middle," she said.
