In this episode of Business LO, 2025 LOSD Citizens’ Bond Campaign Chair, Heather Graves Ramsey, and the Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce CEO, Liz Hartman, discuss the critical importance of Measure 3-628 on the November 2025 ballot for the Lake Oswego School District. This $245 million bond aims to address significant facility challenges across 11 schools, including outdated security systems, aging roofs, and increased demand for STEM and CTE programs, all without raising the current tax rate. The episode emphasizes the measure's importance to the safety, education, and economic stability of the community, and calls for immediate voter action to ensure the bond's passage.
Thank you for your continued support and endorsement of the November 4th LOSD School Bond — our goal is simple: Get Out the Vote!
This bond is a critical investment in the future of our schools. It ensures our learning environments remain safe, modern, and resilient, all without raising the current tax rate. To make this vision a reality, we need everyone all in.
Below you’ll find easy ways to stay engaged and help us spread the word. Please share this with your networks — every voice matters!
We’re so grateful for your support — and we can’t wait to see you out there! Ballots drop on October 15th and are due November 4th
Here’s How You Can Help
1. Vote and Remind your Neighbors, Family, Friends, Community Groups, and Co-workers to vote too! Every vote counts!
2. Volunteer
Join us for these key events:
Canvassing: We need to get people out there! Knock on doors and leave information for key neighbors on 10/19 and 11/2 (both days 1-4pm)
Honk & Waves: Show support at our schools!
Community Outreach: Help us at Farmers Markets and Wellness Fairs- hand out flyers
Please introduce us to a community or group you’re a part of, and we’re happy to speak!
3. Donate
Thank you if you have already donated! We’re in the final stretch — with $20,000 left to raise, every contribution makes a big impact. Whether it’s $100 or $1,000, your donation helps us fund:
Mailers
Digital marketing
Text banking
Crucial reminders in the final days
4. Spread the Word Online
Follow, like, and share to keep the momentum going!
Facebook: @GreatLOSchools
Instagram: @great_lo_schools
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@2025LOSDbond
5. Learn More and Help Share the Facts:
Lake Oswego school district Website to learn the facts bond.losdschools.org
Citizen’s Campaign Website: buildinggreatloschools.com
Stumped by a question from your network even after checking our FAQ ?
We know the technical details are challenging for the average voter, and we want you to feel comfortable answering. The district is here to provide clarity of information https://bond.losdschools.org/about-bond/campaigns/bond-2025!
Listen to these episodes of the LOSD Podcast: Learning in Lake Oswego
Robotics, Leadership and Launching Futures: https://learning-in-lake-oswego.simplecast.com/episodes/robotics-leadership-and-launching-futures
Building Safer, Healthier, and more Resilient Schools https://learning-in-lake-oswego.simplecast.com/episodes/building-safer-healthier-and-more-resilient-schools
Shining a Light on Community Transition Program https://learning-in-lake-oswego.simplecast.com/episodes/shining-a-light-on-the-community-transition-program
Your Property Taxes Explained: https://learning-in-lake-oswego.simplecast.com/episodes/your-property-taxes-explained-investing-in-lake-oswegos-schools
Together, we can ensure strong, safe schools for every LOSD student — now and into the future.
LIZ HARTMAN:: [00:00:00] This is Business LO, a podcast by the Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce, which connects, educates, advocates, and champions, our business community. We have nearly 500 members from international corporations to home-based businesses, and we serve them all. Each episode of Business LO gives insider information to the local business community and the neighbors who support them.
LIZ HARTMAN:: And now let's talk business LO.
MICHELLE ODELL:: Today is October 14th, 2025, and this episode is going to publish on Friday, October 17th. 'cause that's right before the ballots go out. Correct. They're dropped on the October 15th, so people should be receiving them
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: this weekend.
MICHELLE ODELL:: Perfect. Okay, so there you go. So, and we might say this is an emergency episode of Business Lo 'cause it's all about Measure three dash 6 28 on the November, 2025 ballot.
MICHELLE ODELL:: Joining me is Heather Graves Ramsey. She's. Owner of Coach to Brilliance, she [00:01:00] specializes in executive coaching and leadership development and is the 2025 LOSD Citizens Bond campaign chair. And we also have chamber, CEO, Liz Hartman, who is also, she's also a. Former LOSD board member and was for 12 years, and we are going to discuss this crucial election for Lake Oswego School District, which serves over 6,800 students across 11 schools, and is recognized among Oregon's top performing districts by niche.
MICHELLE ODELL:: Now while everything's well maintained, our schools face significant facility challenges, outdated security, fire and seismic systems, aging roofs, windows, hvac, plumbing, and electrical. Forest Hills and Lake Grove Elementary are built in the forties, okay? And with the plumbing embedded in concrete and foundations that cannot be strengthened, growing demand for STEM and CTE and language [00:02:00] programs exceeding available classrooms.
MICHELLE ODELL:: To address these needs, the district has placed measure three dash 6 28 on the November, 2025 ballot. Now this proposed $245 million bond developed with community input would if passed, be the third step in a three step plan to modernize LO schools without. Raising the current tax rate. Okay, so with that information in mind, Heather and Liz, let's talk about this.
MICHELLE ODELL:: Why is this so important for all of us and why is it important for our business community?
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: Part of why people live, work, and stay in play here is because it's safe. Because we have great schools, right? Those are the two key things that I think bring people here. And with those two things, it allows our community to be fully engaged.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: Now, we want our students to be absolutely safe. This is a bond that's being put forward, but it is the third phase of a 10 [00:03:00] year planned rollout of taking care of our buildings, taking care of our students, and making sure that we have what we
LIZ HARTMAN:: need. We put the whole ball in motion 12 years ago. That was when we got a new superintendent and the board said we have had too much deferred maintenance.
LIZ HARTMAN:: So with bond number one, we addressed the very worst buildings, and then five years later we already have more worst buildings. So this time we will be addressing Forest Hills and Lake Grove Elementary, which as Michelle said, were built in the 1940s. It is incumbent to pass this bond to get all of our facilities up to speed, and you have the promise from the board and the current administration that they will keep these buildings up.
MICHELLE ODELL:: Someone was talking the other day, I was chatting with somebody and they were saying, oh, the bond will pass. It always passes, and they're just sort of lackadaisical about it. That's not a good attitude, is it?
LIZ HARTMAN:: Yeah, the only way the bond is gonna [00:04:00] pass is if people go out and vote for the bond, and this is the bond to vote for because it does not increase your tax rate.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: The thing that keeps me up at night or has me wake up at night is do people just believe that their vote doesn't count? Because here's the thing, we cannot take our hands off the wheel. We cannot just believe that these things pass. We know the yeses are out there. The polling tells us that, but each bond, less people are actually voting.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: That's the thing. So if I were to say anything to light a fire under people, it is, look, you need to vote. You need to tell your neighbors and your friends to vote. You need to be that inspiration to say, look, we are here. Things that we can control, definitely local. Let's get the vote out and let's make it happen.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: So specifically for the business community, how does it impact the business People that are listening to this show, for instance, both Forest Hills and Lake Grove will be seismic and those will be emergency centers for our people. [00:05:00] In case of an earthquake or ice storm or anything like that, they're gonna be ready.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: For taking care of those folks. And especially in the Lake Grove area where there is nothing there. There's no bigger facilities there for people to go and meet. And I just went to a fire safety thing the other day and they were talking about how they go out and they help out with other places that have had fires and stuff like that when there's no there.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: To go to the community, doesn't know where to be. So I would say from a very basic need, that would be one.
LIZ HARTMAN:: If we're talking about business, having a really outstanding school district makes a difference in what kinds of families come here. Keeping our school district at 6,800 to 7,000 students means we have that many families.
LIZ HARTMAN:: Who are going to our businesses or who are business owners or who are supporting the city in many, many other ways. So we like having the amenities that our businesses have here, but we have to have the people to go to those [00:06:00] businesses. And the school district has been helpful in that the school district is the highest employer in the area, which means not only do we have parents and kids shopping and using our businesses, but we also have an employee base of about 600 people.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: I would add to that too. The quality of students that are coming out of this school system is just phenomenal. I get to go and engage with them. I do like the mock interview process where we, you know, we teach them how to interview as we go out there. And even at freshmen who have gone through the system from K through eighth grade, now they're in ninth grade.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: They are so articulate. They are so community engaged and learning like this community does bring those sort of things forward and those are the people that are gonna come out and work for these businesses. We wanna educate them, but also keep them here and have them want to live and stay and have their families here.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: And there is a lot of that. And I think the school system is a huge part of it there. As I'm going out and [00:07:00] learning more on this bond campaign, I've been to. Almost all of the back to school nights. I've talked to hundreds of parents and there's a ton of people who, their parents went here, they went here, their kids are going here now, and it's just amazing to have that rooted part, but also an openness to new people and to folks coming in.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: So I think that that is a gift that we have now, a basic need. That people have is they have to have spaces to be able to do this learning. If we have to cancel class because it's too hot out. If we have an ice storm and we have to remove students from a particular building and they have to go to another, all disruptions to the things that we're doing here.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: And again, this is why many people move here and stay here is the school, so we have to take care of them.
MICHELLE ODELL:: Anybody who's, who's on the fence about voting or not, go to River Grove Elementary and see what they have done. Absolutely gorgeous. Every detail is thought out and it's so forward thinking. We're [00:08:00] not thinking about just for today, we're thinking about for the next few decades and beyond.
LIZ HARTMAN:: Well, the great thing about that building is that it's also an educational tool because it is set up so you can. Open the windows when it gets too hot in there and that you can measure the temperatures and that the kids are part of the whole building experience. And that is one of the things we've been able to do with these new buildings is to make them part of the education process.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: One thing that I'm remembering too, so I was recently at the West End Business Group and they had a speaker come in and they were talking about how Oregon is really set up for continuing to be a technology hub. We need to have the students that are feeding into that. Part of what this bond is going to produce for us is in both the Lake Oswego High School and Lakeridge High School.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: There will be the STEM facilities for those students to do what they need to do. Right now, there is a hun, about 150 students that are a part of the robotics club. They're sharing one space. One classroom and they have [00:09:00] no storage room. These students are actively out there engaging in our community.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: They're doing things to prevent and, and save people from human trafficking. They're at the hospitals helping people to be able to feel better with their, they bring their little robot kits and they have people designing those things. These are students that are. Actively out there and we're giving them one classroom, this bond will get them into two wonderful spaces that have the storage and the access that they need in order to do the work that they're doing.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: And again, becoming that feeder for Oregon to continue in their tech cycle. So I also think when we think of, you know, workforce development and pe, it's not just at the college level. It, it does start younger and this does help support that. From a feeder standpoint of workforce development, we also need to make sure that we're focusing on those career technical education pieces.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: And again, those are typically things that need to have a specific space and specific facilities to be able to do that. This bond does include those as well, which again, is helping our workforce and our [00:10:00] businesses to be able to have people, 'cause I don't know about you, Liz, but we hear all the time, a lot of our businesses, they can't find qualified
LIZ HARTMAN:: employees.
LIZ HARTMAN:: But we also know that not every child is going to be going to college, and that means you need more career and technical information going on, and that helps our business community as well.
MICHELLE ODELL:: The learning in Lake Oswego podcast that Dr. Jennifer Sheeley and Mary Kay Larson put together, I help produce it.
MICHELLE ODELL:: There's an episode about all of these things, and there's a couple of bond episodes, especially from last year. So if you need more convincing, you can listen to a few episodes of that and you can hear these. Children, they are so bright and so articulate, and you can tell they have been given what they need and that's why they're so great.
MICHELLE ODELL:: All kids deserve good schools, good buildings, and great teachers, and that's what Lake Oswego has. So.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: Please vote. We need the community. We need to get out there. So we know that people have every intention of voting, and we [00:11:00] also know that that gets lost. The piece of paper, the envelope gets lost and they forget about it.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: One thing I'm gonna ask is, as a business owner, please remind. Your people. Now, whether that's your neighbors, you, your family members, your employees, whoever that may be, please remind them to vote. And it's important to do so. If you have a newsletter that you send out, we would love you to include, don't forget the vote in your newsletter.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: The more touch points and the things that I'm learning here it, I think it's like 32 impressions versus it used to be seven. So we need to, to be able to get that word out there and that takes. Everybody. So if you can be reminding if you are able to get out there and volunteer with us. We're doing some canvassing.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: We're going like Avon, we're knocking on doors, we're talking to people. We're doing that October 19th and November 2nd, you're gonna see some honking waves. We would love to have some help for those kinds of things. And even just if you have groups that are getting together, if you could remind them and or ask one of us to [00:12:00] come and speak, we're happy to.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: We're happy to come and answer questions or to, to get the facts out there. Would love to be able to do that. So volunteering, getting engaged, reminding people. Actually voting yourselves please. And then also from a donation standpoint, like it costs money to make these things happen. There's mailers. We have enough funding to do two right now, we wanna do three because those are super important to land at the right time.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: We. Digital marketing. We wanna be in the Lake Oswego review. Like all of those things that help remind people that takes money. And I know this is a tough time for a lot of people, but we really could use some support in that funding place. We have about 11 K that we're down. So if you're listening to this episode, we would love you to donate.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: We're gonna make sure that there's information in the notes for you to be able to go ahead and click on. Other things you can be doing is you can be sharing and liking on social. There's some amazing videos out there. Liz is in one of them. You need to go check them out. But our social media, so Instagram, Facebook, our [00:13:00] website, share those things out there.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: We're living and breathing this. They are not, we need to remind them. We need to get the word out.
LIZ HARTMAN:: It's pretty easy to talk to all of your neighbors and remind them to vote. If you're not gonna go knock and talk. It's easy to knock and talk to your neighbors. So. Choose four. Choose six. Just knock and talk and let 'em know they need to vote.
LIZ HARTMAN:: So timeline
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: wise, we have ballots will drop on October 15th. You should be receiving them in the mail shortly after, and they are due by November 4th. Our recommendation, just do it. Right away. Now, one misconception that people have is that they have to go physically down to like one of the voter boxes, like down at city Hall.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: You actually don't, you can pop that bubby in the mail and just get it done. Do it right away before it gets lost, or you forget to do it. This bond is being endorsed by. Everyone, like when I look at the back of our flyer here, we have organizations like the Art Council, the Democratic Party of Clackamas County, the Lake Corporation, [00:14:00] lake Oswego Education Association, of course, our fabulous Chamber of Commerce, the Lake Oswego Sustainability Network.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: Our friends of the Luca Park educators coaches. Our Lake Oswego Foundation board members, the entire school board and former school board members, elected officials, the entire city council is behind this. So this is something that our community knows needs to happen, but we definitely need to get the word out, help us bring this over the finish line.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: It's been a 12 year process, as Liz said, and this has been something that we've been planning for a long time, and we just need to make it happen. So get out and vote.
LIZ HARTMAN:: The stamp is covered. Oh yeah, it's free on the, on the ballots. You don't even have to go find a stamp. It's that easy. It's that easy. Yeah.
HEATHER GRAVES RAMSEY:: And I just also would love to thank, there's a huge number of incredibly engaged volunteers that are behind this. And although, you know, I'm the chair, I cannot take credit for a lot of the things that are happening. These people are just phenomenal. They're parents, they're business owners. It's just a blessing to be here and to [00:15:00] have that support and to, to have so many people moving this forward.
MICHELLE ODELL:: Well get out and vote, and. Thank you for listening. We really appreciate it. And remember that every day is a Chamber of Commerce Day here in Lake Oswego,
LIZ HARTMAN:: the Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce. Thanks you for listening to Business Lo. We would love to have you as a member so you can help Lake Oswego continue to be one of the best places to live, work, and play.
LIZ HARTMAN:: If you wanna share an idea for a future episode or become a member. Visit us@lakeoswegochamber.com and please like and follow us on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And for help with your business podcast, go to modcast productions.com.