BUILDING BOND
One outstanding issue is whether the 4J
and Bethel school boards will put school
construction bond measures on the May
ballot that could compete with the city
measure to fund school operations.
Under Oregon’s complicated tax
system, voters can approve as much local
funding as they want for school buildings,
but they are severely limited in approving
property taxes to actually pay for the
teachers and other operating costs to keep
those buildings open.
District 4J Superintendent George
Russell has said he’s concerned that putting
a proposed $130 million construction bond
measure on the same May ballot as a
school operations measure could result in
one or both measures failing due to voter
confusion.
“It would be very diffi cult for me to
recommend a bond measure on the same
ballot,” Russell told the School Board last
week. “If the decision is made to put an
income tax measure on the May ballot, by
default that makes the decision about our
bond measure, in my view.”
“Putting the [construction] bond at
the same time as the [city] measure will
doom both,” said Johnson of the school
supporters group.
Delaying the school construction
measure might mean that the district isn’t
eligible for $15 million in federal matching
funds. But the district may be able to use a
portion of the city income tax funding to
fund $15 million in borrowing and/or may
be able to borrow from reserves or the city
to get some or all of the federal match.
HOW MUCH
The group of school funding supporters
have asked for the city council to refer a
measure that would raise about $20 million
per year for about four to six years.
The city has asked the 4J and Bethel
school districts to provide fi gures on the
amount of money needed to avoid increases
in class sizes and school closure days, but
the school boards have not yet discussed
the issue in full.
Russell has included $10 million to
$12 million in funding for 4J from the city
tax in his proposed budget and about $4
million has been proposed for Bethel.
Russell said he’s concerned that asking
for a large amount of money could hurt the
chances the ballot measure will pass. But
school supporters argue that the measure
has to include enough revenue for a
the
emu
the
signifi cant reduction in class size increases
and school closure days.
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STATE WAIT
School funding opponents have argued
that school funding is not a city of Eugene
problem, and that citizens should wait for a
statewide solution.
But school supporters argue that the
state has been under-funding schools for
decades and doesn’t appear likely to act.
“We’ve been cutting schools since 1993,”
said local state Rep. Phil Barnhart, co-chair
of the House Revenue Committee. “The state
of Oregon is not going to fi x this problem
anytime soon,” he said. “The students we can
take care of in Eugene, we should.”
Newly elected Gov. John Kitzhaber
hasn’t proposed any concrete solution to
school funding in his budget. The state
Legislature is just starting to wrestle with
a projected $3.5 billion budget gap this
biennium and $10 billion over the decade.
With the state Senate split closely between
Democrats and Republicans and the two
parties sharing power in an evenly split
state House, gridlock appears more likely
than increased school funding from the
state anytime soon.
HEART
Open Studio at
PROGRESSIVE
The city income tax for schools should
have rates increasing with income similar
to the progressive rates of the federal
income tax, according to school supporters.
The group suggested rates “such as 0.5, 1
and 1.5 percent.”
The school supporters also said that
the income tax should protect the poor by
exempting those under “approximately the
median-income level for Eugene, i.e., in
the range of $30,000 to $35,000/year.”
About 45 percent of Eugene residents
would pay the proposed school tax, based
on state data and assuming Eugene has a
similar income distribution to Lane County.
The local proposal would have a lower
threshold than the $250,000 income fl oor
for the State Measure 66 income tax
increase, which passed by a 3-1 margin in
Eugene last year.
Supporters could increase the income
threshold to lessen the impact of the tax
on those struggling in the down economy
and increase its chances of passage without
losing much revenue. For example,
exempting incomes below $70,000 would
cut the number affected by the tax to about
20 percent while only reducing revenue by
32 percent, according to the state data.
Artists:
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