Think Again • By Tim Nesbitt Portland schools: When the handbasket arrives in hell F or Portland Public Schools, this is the year that the handbasket will finally arrive in hell. All the stopgap funding measures that kept Portland’s schools from go- ing under have or will soon run out. As a result, a district which cut al- most 10 percent of its teaching posi- tions last year now faces a budget hell-hole large enough to consume 30 percent of the teachers who will still be on its payroll next September. And school parents will be invited to help the district choose between shortening an already short school year or packing more kids into al- ready overcrowded classrooms. It was a long, bumpy ride, this de- scent to the netherworld where Ore- gon’s largest city can no longer main- tain a fully functional school system for its children. But it’s not as if we didn’t see this coming. We talked about our schools going to hell in a hand basket when Mea- sure 5 appeared on the ballot in 1990. But Measure 5’s supporters offered a Faustian bargain that a majority of Oregon voters couldn’t refuse. We can cut our property taxes, they ar- gued, and let the state take care of fi- nancing our schools. There were real devils in the de- tails of that bargain. Trusting the state was one. Even in years when our economy was booming, the Legisla- ture never managed to replace the funding that Portland and other high- tax districts lost to Measure 5. To be fair, state lawmakers had to address other demands. But they also focused more on equalizing school funding statewide than on helping the districts that were hurt most by Measure 5. Even more devilish details emerged when it came to paying for the state’s increased school support. Portland taxpayers saw more of their state income taxes go to other school districts, because of the emphasis on equalization. And working families statewide paid more for schools, while busi- nesses paid less. Measure 5 cut local property taxes, which were the largest source of business tax support for schools, and forced the state to re- place those lost property taxes with state income taxes, which are paid largely by working families. This shift of school funding from businesses to working families was the most diabolical effect of Measure 5. I have quantified this shift of re- sponsibility for financing our schools at different times over the past few years. The numbers vary, depending on what extra taxes have been ap- proved by voters at the local level. But the bottom line looks like this: Prior to the passage of Measure 5 in 1990, businesses paid about 40 per- cent to 45 percent of the operating costs of our K-12 schools; now they pay only 25 percent to 30 percent. Part of that 10 percent to 20 per- cent of school costs that are no longer paid by Oregon businesses has been taken out of school budgets. The rest is now paid by Oregon’s working families. Measure 5 not only short- changed our schools, it overcharged our working families to make up for the windfall tax reductions it gave to Oregon businesses. If voters in Portland, whose schools have suffered more than most from Measure 5, now tell pollsters that they’re tired of paying more for schools and never solving the school funding problem, they’re not being selfish. They’re being real. But their reality has been largely ignored by the political establishment. Portland’s political leaders aren’t asking these voters if they want to restore business tax support for schools; they’re ask- ing them if they want to pay more Broadway Floral for the BEST flowers call 503-288-5537 Quarry 8” 1638 NE Broadway, Portland Safety toe or reg. Gortex/Vibram. Black Try a pair on, you’ll like them. Tough boots for the Northwest. AL’S SHOES 5811 SE 82nd, Portland 503-771-2130 Mon-Fri 10-7:30 Sat 10-5:30 Sun 12-6 FEBRUARY 17, 2006 Southgate Mobile & RV Park 7911 SE 82nd Ave. Portland, Oregon Spaces Available up to 35’ 503-771-5262 from their own pockets. And that has become a losing proposition. Maybe the prospect of an infernal future for Portland’s schools will con- vince our elected leaders to take an- other look at businesses’ responsibil- ity for financing our educational system in Oregon. One way to do that would be to enact a property tax surcharge on commercial and industrial property, whose owners benefited most from Measure 5. The last time that was proposed, in 1992, Oregon’s business community fought it, and the voters rejected it. But that was before our largest school district had to face the consequences of Measure 5’s Faust- ian bargain. To their credit, many business leaders played a positive role in the campaigns for the “local option” property taxes and the temporary county income tax that kept Portland and other school districts from going to hell in a hand basket until now. But those solutions were not sus- tainable because they never overcame the underlying unfairness and insta- bility of Measure 5’s school funding scheme. Now that working families are rebelling at the prospect of pay- ing more temporary taxes to support schools that appear to be in a perma- nent state of crisis, we have to find a way to make our school financing system a little more fair and a lot more stable. That means that business leaders are going to have to do more than lead the charge for school fund- ing. Their businesses are going to have to pay their fair share for sup- porting our schools as well. Tim Nesbitt is a former president of the Oregon AFL-CIO. IRS PROBLEMS? • Haven’t filed for...years? • Lost records? • Liens-Levie-Garnishments? • Negotiate settlements. • Retiring? Have Questions? Call Nancy D. Anderson Enrolled Agent/Tax Practitioner 503-697-7757 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS Local Motion January 2006 Union election activity in Oregon and SW Washington, according to the National Labor Relations Board and the Oregon Employment Relations Board Elections held Results: Company Date Union Location Mercy Medical Center 1/11 Oregon Nurses Association Roseburg Corvallis Regional Communications Center 1/11 CRCCA vs AFSCME Corvallis Union No Union 178 97 11 1 Lincoln City Rehabilitation Center 12/22 SEIU Local 503 Lincoln City 15 0 13 Elections requested Company Union Location # of employees White City 22 Sidwell Airfreight (decertification) Teamsters Local 962 Ashland 17 Southern Oregon University (Honors Dept.) SOU University Seminar Association Ore. & SW Wash. 532 American Medical Response NEMSA vs. ATU Local 757 Umpqua Community College (full-time faculty) Oregon Education Association Port Orford 10 City of Port Orford Teamsters Local 206 Q } Roseburg 61 Quest Investment Management, Inc. Serving Multi-Employer Trusts for Twenty Years Cam Johnson Adrian Hamilton Doug Goebel Greg Sherwood Monte Johnson Bill Zenk One SW Columbia St., Suite 1100 Portland, OR 97258 503-221-0158 www.QuestInvestment.com PAGE 9