Board member Tamie Arnold runs for District 25 senate seat

One of Mt. Hood’s at-large District board members is running for the position of state senator for District 25. Tamie Tlustos-Arnold is a registered nurse with 17 years in the field. She graduated from MHCC, where she served as ASG president. She got her nursing degree at Walla Walla College.

If elected to the Oregon senate, Arnold hopes to help improve the state’s education system, contribute to solving the housing and homeless crises in her district, and focus her attention on the community she represents.

Arnold said the education system is failing graduated students: “Only about 25 percent of high school students are ready for college- level coursework.” She believes that students in Oregon need more class time. “Kids are shortchanged by about 10 days a year compared to Washington (state),” she said.

Giving students options other than a college education is an idea Arnold supports, she said. Resources for vocational training, or career technical training should be expanded.

“We’re on the right track with one of our ballot measures,” she said about Measure 98, which would “distribute at least $800 per high school student each year (to public schools) for establishing or expanding career and technical education programs, college-level educational opportunities, and dropout-prevention strategies,” according to ballotpedia.com.

For low-income families, Arnold wants qualifications for the Oregon Promise act (which covers community college tuition costs for eligible students) to be expanded. “Some families are stuck, and they don’t necessarily have the money to send their kids to school” but they also don’t qualify for Oregon Promise funds, she said.

On the issue of housing, Arnold wants to see regulations modified so that more creative solutions are possible. Allowing and building more mixed-use properties with commercial space below, and living space on top, is one idea she likes. She also supports allowing auxiliary dwelling units (ADU), such as converting a garage into an apartment.

“Incentivize ways to create cost-effective houses,” Arnold said. If the market is driven only by the dollar, then “it makes sense to create apartments that are expensive” to live in, she said.

Arnold said she is the best candidate for District 25 because she is not entrenched in Salem politics, and is “deeply involved with the community… right down to the grassroots.”