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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 22, 1957)
Sen. Phil Lowry Sees Lack of Leadership; Discusses Complications of School Bills By STATE SENATOg PHILIP LOWHY Salem After 66 days of struggling? this Legislature is still suffering from a lack of leadership. The two dominant issues of the session, taxa tion and edu cation, are badly bogged down. The re sult of this lack of leader ship may well be haphazard bra. Lowry or expedient compromise. This results far less from party par tisanship than might be sup posed. Most of the partisanship on the education issue is geo- grapnitai and intra-party. On the tax issue, most of the controversy is necessarily amone the Democrats, because the Re publican tax program was dis carded by the Democrat ma jority in the House of Repre sentatives in the early days of me session. Both the House and Senate Education and Taxation Committees are controlled by the Democrats. The Democrats in attempting to devise a tax program, have been left in an awkward position by the Gov ernor. Both parties are confused by the Governor's failure to make any concrete budget rec ommendations. According to the grapevine, the Governor isn't going to say anything directly on this subject if it can possibly be .avoided. Kow To Spen4 The Democrats themselves are In serious disagreement as to how much money should be spent, because it is now. appar ent that not all of the campaign promises can be kept if the tax payer is to be considered seri ously. The reason for this state of affairs, goes back to the cam- YES SIB! Of a vtnr few cur VSTAU 4 '5 mi WWttkCt WISTIKH OIL & fUtNfft CO. 412 E. JjVIn Miona 2-3266 Borrov The AMERICAN WAY! Loans On AUTO SALARY FURNITURE 25 to 1,500 For Taxes, Medical Expense, or Any Worthwhile Purpose $ PAYMENTS TO FIT YOUR BUDGET! American Finance Corp. Phone 2-8886 113 W. Main Med ford I paign for the Governorship. In consistent promises were made which amounted to commitmertf for tax relief and for vastly increased state aid for a variety of projects. The parties making the promises recklessly ignored how much it would cost the tax payers to keep them. They now find you can't spend heavily without taxing heavily, and you can't tax heavily without raising a storm of public protest. The parties promised are now in Salem demanding performance. Notably, on the education issue, the Governor has been charged by a member of his own party with "double crossing and sell ing education down the river." The result is a hopeless poli tical dilemma which has pre vented an honest presentation of the facts to the public. Apparently the Governor hopes that the Legislature will have to absorb the blame for any broken promises, but the Legislators, themselves, of both parties aren't about to be used as the "scape goat." Calls for Facts There is no substitute for tell ing the people the plain, un varnished facts, no matter how unpleasant they may be, both before and after an election. It is my belief that the people' of Oregon will respond to any hon estly presented, progressive pro gram which is necessary. Actually taxation is, in my opinion, secondary to the educa tion issue at this session, because the education decisions will have substantial control over the tax program. There are four fundamental education issues before us: (1) The so-called Key District plan in the form of Senate Bill 64. (2) House Bill 171 to increase the Basic School Fund from $80 to $120 per census child. (3) School reorganization. (4) What to tlo about higher education. I will attempt at this time to discuss only the first two and will reserve the others for later comment. Important Here Of primary concern to Jack son county is the Key District Plan contained in Senate Bill S4, of which I am one of the bipartisan co-sponsors. This bill would revise the formula, now badly out of balance, for dis tributing millions of dollars of State general funds to the local school districts in Oregon. The present - law for distributing these funds has produced a situ ation where the counties with the greatest tax resources are getting more and more of the State general fund at the ex pense of the counties with limit ed tax resources. Portland and some Eastern Oregon counties are bitterly re sisting this bill because it would deny them the undue advantages which they are now receiving under the present law. Last ses sion, the Senate passed a bin, but the opposition killed it in the House Education Committee. Th "rich districts" have coun ter-attacked with a bill of their own. It is obvious they do not feel sufficiently strong at this Session to simply rely on killing Senate Bill 64. They now ac knowledge some inequity in the present law, which they conieno. can be corrected with their bill, but their proposal would retain a large part of the advantage they now enjoy. ! Theorv Devised ! Senate Bill 64 means a tre I mendous amount in dollars and i cents to counties such as Jack- son. The basic theory of tne 1 bill was devised by a group of ! outstanding educators, including our own superintendents, Leon I ard Mayfield and Alt Mekvold. i My mail indicates unanimous I support of the public and all : units of education in Jackson i county for this bill. The bill is I based on the belief that educa- tion in Oregon is a state func- tion, as stated in the Oregon i Constitution, and that we must I reasonably educate our children where they live, irrespective of 1 the tax revenues available to the district in which the chil dren live. It absolutely does not deprive local districts of the control of their own operations, nor does it require any addi tional taxes. It simply redis tributes tax revenues already imposed. Both parties are split wide open on this bill. Any par tisanship on this issue is entirely geographical. Endorsement of this bill by the Oregon Education Associa tion has produced an extremely violent reaction from tlie Port land membership of that group. Truce meetings between the pro ponents and the opponents of Senate Bill 64 have not been productive of any compromise, because the issue is so fundamental. Sound Principle It is my firm conviction that Senate Bill 64 sets forth a sound educational principle and the Basic Fund distribution propos ed under it is fair to all parts of the state. Just as explosive is House Bill 171, which would increase state aid from $80 to $120 per school census child. State taxes now pay less than one-third of the costs of elementary and second ary education in Oregon. The balance is made up by local property taxes. This bill would have the effect of requiring the state to pay approximately one half of the cost of elementary and secondary education with the balance to be paid out of local taxes. House Bill 171 could be one of the big "squeeze plays" of the Session. Some Democrats and some Republicans still hope that this bill will be enacted. Others, however, have simply come out and said there should be no increase beyond $90. I believe many of the Republi cans in the Senate would seri ously consider the full increase to $120, if the increase were fully offset locally by reduced property taxes. Would Shift Burden. In any event, the Republicans will try to insist that any in crease go. back to the local school districts as a direct budg et receipt within the six per cent limitation. No increase or de crease in total taxation would be involved. However, there would be a shift of the burden of taxation from the local prop erty taxpayer to those taxpay ers contributing to the State General Fund. By insisting upon these conditions, any increase in the Basic Fund would not simply be an additional expenditure for education but would be a direct local property tax offset. It would also have the merit of meeting our educational needs. Under this arrangement, if local voters wanted to exceed this amount, they would have to vote for school budgets out side the six per cent limitation. Nobody should be deceived that this means any less overall tax bill in Oregon. It doesn't. How ever, I think it would be perilous to vote any increase in the Basic Fund without giving the local property taxpayers the suggest ed protection. Otherwise, we have simply called upon our taxpayers to pay more taxes at the State level with the prob ability that the local taxes would soon climb back up as high as before. Increasingly Concerned (I have become increasingly concerned over the plight of local property taxpayers. Farm ers appear to be carrying a dis proportionate share of the tax burden in some areas, and the unfortunate fact is that local property taxes fall due whether there has been any income to pay. them op not. My mail also indicates there is a terrific squeeze on the modest prop erty home owners, often beyond the working age, who have a limited or fixed income. To some of these people, already hurt by inflation, a mounting property tax bill is a real hard ship. The dividing line here be tween the independent, self-sus- J taining, low-income citizen and a Welfare case is getting pretty thin.) Another feature of the appar ently developing "squeeze play" in education is the effort to con nect the increase in the Basic Fund to Senate Bill 64. if Port land can get the increase as high as $110 per census child, it will soften the opposition to Senate Bill 64, because Portland would then receive no less than at present. No doubt, a move will be attempted to tie Senate Bill 64 with an increase in the Basic Fund. This I think would be a great mistake. Both, mat ters should be decided inde pendently on their own merits. Also, if we increase the Basic Fund without a sound revision in the distribution formula, counties such as Jackson could be left in a bad position. Enrollments Up Any way you look at it, mounting school enrollments and increasing costs can only mean more taxes to educate our children. If the State does not provide additional help, the inevitable increased cost will fall on locally owned property. The only advantage to this is that local tax dollars are spent more efficiently than at the state level. It also tends to prevent extravagance and useless frills in education. Our real concern should be the net product of education and not simply the physical surroundings in which it functions. The problems discussed here are really most difficult of sound solution. It will take sensible leadership, taxes and public interest to solve them. rriday. March 22', 1937 Power Goes XJP . . . Price Goes DOWN I, in the Biggest of the Big V-8's! 11 Travel where yon will, you can't beat the new 1957 Nash Ambassador for all-around travel comfort and convenience. Here are the biggest interiors on the road. Here is gas-saving economy combined with flashing V-8 performance. Here are such travel "extras" as Airliner Reclining Seats, Twin Travel Beds and the most efficient air conditioning and heating system on the market. Come, see and drive the new Nash today I Join the Siring to the Travel King Today! Bartlett at 5th Medford Phone 2-6185 Ambassador V- 8 for '57 World's Finest Travel Car LEA MOTORS Bill To Abolish Fair Commission In 4-4 Deadlock Salem (U.R) A bill to abolish the State Fair Commission and put the fair back unde 'the di-l-ction of the State Department of Agriculture remained in the Senate Agriculture Committee today after failing to pass out to the floor with a "do pass" rec ommendation. The vote was four Republicans against the move to pass the bill out favorably and four Demo crats in favor. The fifth Repub lican on the committee. Sen. Francis W. Ziegler of Corvalhs, explained he had not made up his mind. Apparently Not Killed Members said the unusual tie vote action in committee appar ently did not "kill" the bill or "lay it on the table." But they said it just remained in commit tee and might be brought up for action at a future date. The legislation ,was recom mended by Gov. Robert D. Holmes, who said he thought the emphasis would be more on agriculture and less on "carni val" if the fair was placed back under the griculture .Depart ment where it was until 1951, when the Legislature created the fair commission. Voting to bring out the bill with a favorable recommenda tion were Democratic Sens. Dwight Hopkins of Imbler, Ben Musa of The Dalles, Andrew J. Naterlin of Newport and Monroe Sweetland of Milwaukie. Opposition Voles And voting against the motion were Republican Sens. C. D. Cameron of Grar'.j Pass, Walter C. Leth of Monmouth, Leander Quiring of Hermiston and .Tru man A. Chase of Eugene, chair man of the committee. Sen. Quiring, in explaining his vote, said he thought the time element was involved. He said the fair, which opens the Satur day before Labor day, already is behind schedule in arranging its premium books and other plans, and V thought the directing body should remain as' it is for the present. Badden Submits Low id for FS Timber Cave Junction Francis Bad den, Cave Junction logging con tractor, was the successful bid der at two oral auction timber sales held March 19 at the Il linois Valley ranger station. Badden bid $199.20 for 24,000 feet of Port Orford cedar on Forest service land in the Gray back creek area. He bid $523 for 32,000 feet of Douglas fir and white fir in the Lake creek area. 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