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Legislative Candidates01 Views on O&C Controversy Are Presented
State School Aid
At Issue; Four ;
Statements Given
Editor's note: The use of
O&C funds in school finance
has become an issue in the
present campaign. In an at
tempt to get at what the con
troversy is all about, and to
put the candidates on record
on the matter, the Mail Tri
bune invited each of the four
candidates for the house of
representatives to provide a
' 500 words statement setting
forth his or her views on the
subject, in response to this
question:
"What is your position on
the proposal that O&C reve
nues be taken into considera
tion in the formula allocating
state funds for equalization
purposes in education?"
Replies were received from
all four, John Dellenback and
Eve Nye, Republicans, and
Robert Duncan and John
Gregory, Democrats. They
follow:
JOHN R. DELLENBACK
I have been asked to state
where I stand in connection
with the suggestion that 0 &
C revenues be taken into con
sideration in the proposed for
mula for distribution of funds
for education. The heart of
my answer lies in my convic
tion as to the fundamental ob
ligations of a state legislator.
Under our system of repre
sentative government a per
son elected to represent Jack
son county in our state legis
lature has two basic obliga
tions. First, at the time he is
sworn in as a legislator he
assumes an obligation to up
hold the state constitution
and to exercise deep concern
for the welfare of the entire
state and all its people. Sec
ond, he is the chosen voice,
arm and shield for the 72,000
people in Jackson county
whom he has been elected to
represenf.
Sometimes the interests of
Jackson- county do not run
parallel to the interests of
other sections of the state.
When this occurs the basic
concern of a representative
from Jackson county must be
to advance and protect the
welfare and best interests of
Jackson county and its peo
ple. This is the keystone in
the arch of our whole system
of x a representative legisla
ture. The system of represen
tation is based on geographic
areas and a person elected to
represent the people of a cer
tain area owes a primary ob
ligation to those people to
seek in all honorable ways to
advance their best interests.
.; Under the Oregon Consti
tution the obligation of pro
viding for the establishment
of a uniform and general sys
tem of schools is expressly
declared to be a problem for
the state legislature. It is of
real importance to me that
adequate educational opportu
nities shall be made available
to our young people through
out the entire state. But if I
am elected as a representa
tive from Jackson county I
will feel bound to seek to
bring this to pass in a way
that will not injure Jackson
county. I feel that invading
III V ft
. - $ j ,;v
HERB HUNTER
FOR
COUNTY
ASSESSOR
PLANNED ECONOMY
"For which of you intending"
to build a tower, lirterh not
down first and counteth the
cost." Luke 14:28
' A certified Stote of Oregon
Appraiser - .
' A working man's approach to'
! taxes.--". 1;;:'::"J " -
r A man who listens to people
Paid political ad by Hunter for
County Assessor Comm., 409
Lynnwood Ave;,:..
m i i f t.
' if' f 'i
DELEGATES MEET Attending a meeting
of Jackson county delegates to the Gover
nor's Conference on Children and Youth
last week were John Snider, left, and, next
to him, Mike Phillips, student body presi
dents of St. Mary's and Medford High
schools. The conference on Children and
Youth will bs held Nov. 2, 3 and 4 in Salem
and will be attended by 12 or 13 delegates
from Jackson county. Pictured with the
youths above are Mrs. Morris Parter, inter
agency chairman, and Capt. William Ricken,
chairman of the county delegation. The
meeting was held in the conference room
of the Public Library of Medford and Jack
son county.
the O & C funds which Jack
son county receives instead of
taxes will hurt our people
economically.
I am not convinced tlfat all
other 'possible ways to assure
substantial equality of educa
tional opportunity throughout
the state have been exhausted.
I see no assurance that once
the pattern has been estab
lished of invading these funds
for one purpose there will not
be j increasing invasions, in
larger and larger amounts,
for the same purpose or for
other purposes. I believe that
under present circumstances
the final result of opening the
proposed road of invasion of
O&C funds, in any percent
age, will be' that Jackson
county residents will pay
higher real property taxes,
and I am definitely opposed
to this.
I feel very strongly that it
is my obligation to the ' peo
ple of Jackson county to fight
for their interests in this mat
ter and,-while working for in
creased state aid to our local
schools, to do my best to stop
iiT- , ,
) , ELM0 SMITj
"If I ... family man '
tFv I ff ..overseas
If experienced
f.jt'V? I legislator
K-y - Oregon. V'-
Elmo Smith I
YOUR REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATOR
. t
Your Candidate . ... for PEACE' through firmness
with" Communism ... for MORE & BETTER '
JOBS for Oregonians.
Your vote for Elmo Smith is a vote for continuing Amer
ican military strength . . .'for a dynamic foreign policy to
insure world peace through the United Nations ... for an
aggressive program to give Oregon its fair share of space
age industrial development ... for legislation to benefit
. our senior citizens ... to protect and fully develop Ore
gon's great natural resources ... to provide growing pros
perity for all Oregonians. ''
SMITH KNOWS YOUR NEEDS!
Elmo Smith has a program for reappraisal
of timber resources to provide more jobs
in the Willamette Valley. He supports
specific legislation to stimulate home
building . . . he will take action in the U. S.
Senate to gain more space age spending
for the Valley ... to gain protection for
Oregon farm and factory products from
cheap foreign labor... he will work for
YOUR benefit!
Your Vote
is needed
le tea that
ELMO
SMITH
Gets to
Washington I
Elmo Smith for U.S. Senator Committee
John G. Crawford, Chm., 1503 E. Main St., Medforj), Ore.
the legislature from adopting
any formula which requires
us to take O&C revenues
into account in this regard.
. . ROBERT B. DUNCAN
One of the candidates has
been making an issue of
O&C funds, and has, perhaps
inadvertently, misstated the
situation and my position.
I have never supported this
proposal. I wrote the dissent
to this, recommendation, and
the bill died in committee in
1959.
My opposition was based on
the arbitrary percentage se
lected, and the failure to con
sider other sources of wealth
in other counties, not on any
narrow provincial desire to
get something for us to which
we were not entitled, at the
expense of the rest of the
state, while asking them for
financial assistance. 1
I believe the long run wel
fare of the state parallels that
of Jackson county. No section
can perpetrate an, injustice on
another and win. xne geo
graphical antagonism perpet
uated by local prejudice, fan
ned by political ambition, does
a great disservice , to education.
In determining a district's
wealth for state aid purposes:
true cash value of taxable
property, county school funds,
one-quarter of National Forest
revenues (similar to O&C re
ceipts), and other income, is
added. If a predetermined
millage rate will not . then
support a basic program, that
district receives equalization
aid. Jackson county has bene
fited from this! .
O&C revenues are from sale
of timber from O&C lands.
Because of them we have not
had a county tax levy for sev
eral years. The funds are paid
by federal law. No one can
take this money from us.
We received last year $2,-
549,345 in O&C funds; 25 per
cent of this is $637,336; 12
per cent is $318,668. Both
sums are less than the $781,-
410 in O&C funds which the
county court in August put in
the county school fund, and
which is considered for equal
ization purposes. Thus neither
percentage proposed would af
fect Jackson county adversely.
The subject is inextricably
conected with distribution of
state aid to schools. For years
we have sought a distribution
formula fair to all parts of the
state. The "Key District" plan
sponsored by this area pro-
v i d e d much equalization
(more aid to poorer districts
than wealth) to give Oregon
children a basic education re
gardless of domicile.
Portland wants flat grants
of state aid - so much per
child regardless of the dis
trict's wealth. At present,
Portland gets less than it pays
in income taxes, through a
compromise (80 per cent flat
grants, 20 per cent equaliza
tion). Portland legislators sup
ported this, even though it
cost their county money, be
cause of its importance to ed
ucation. My concern is to find a dis
tribution formula fair to all,
and that all can support. If
elected, I will continue to in-
searching out the wealth of
other counties as a counter
argument, we -will be able to
present an able defense and
arrive at a fair decision.
EVE NYE
sist on justice for this county,
along with the rest.
JOHN L. GREGORY
One of my Republican op
ponents, John Dellenback, has
based most of his campaign
on this single issue, implying
that some of the other candi
dates would give away our O
& C revenue. He has failed to
tell the voters how he is go
ing to prevent use of O & C
revenue in ' the equalization
formula for distribution of
state support.
In 1957, the legislature in
creased the Basic School Fund
to $105 for each child between
the ages of 4 and 20. This
fund is financed by s t a te
taxes. Eighty per cent of this
fund is distributed to each of
the school districts based on
the number of school chil
dren in each district (flat
grants). An equalization for
mula was passed by the leg
islature to distribute the re
maining' 20 per cent of the
Basic School Fund among the
less wealthy school districts
for the purpose of equalizing
and improving educational op
portunities of students in ele
mentary and secondary educa
tion. The present controversy
arises from how the equaliza
tion formula is to be deter
mined. The 1957 legislature
decided that the wealth of a
district for such a formula
would be "the true cash value
of the taxable property in the
district." The present demand
by non-O&C counties is that
O&C revenues be included as
wealth in addition to our tax
able property. This would
mean we would have more
wealth than under the old
formula.,
The worst possible attack
against this attempt to in
crease our wealth under this
formula would be the selfish
and unrealistic arguments that
we will not allow such to hap
pen. It is selfish because we
in Jackson county led the
fight for equalization of state
school support, based on the
arguments of fair and equal
educational opportunities for
all. It is unrealistic because
the 30 counties that do not
receive large O&C funds can
easily out vote the remaining
six counties. '
I have never promised the
voters that I alone could pass
a measure, but only that I
would work to the best of my
ability for favorable legisla
tive action.
The best offense is the best
defense. We should point out
to the other counties all of
the years when there were
no O&C revenues. We should
search out wealth of the other
counties that has not been
considered in the formula. We
should consider all revenue
to a county derived from non
taxable property.
If elected I would oppose
discrimination against Jack
son county as well as any
county in arriving at a fair
equalization formula. I would
oppose the mathematical use
of O&C funds in computing
our wealth until all other
counties of this state would
agree to , use their revenue
from all other sources in ar
riving at their wealth. By
My opposition to the use of
O and C funds for state-wide
distribution in support of
schools is based on several
actors.
It was only after a long
struggle that the Federal Gov
ernment was persuaded to
give the counties in which
the Oregon and California
Lands are situated 75 per
cent of the proceeds from the
sale of timber harvested on
them. Of this amount, one
third is used, by agreement
between the counties and the
federal Government, for de
veloping and maintaining ac
cess roads, reforestation, etc.
The balance is placed in the
county treasury to be used in
defraying the costs of govern
ment in the same way that
Dur property tax receipts are
used. Because of these funds,
we in Jackson county have
had no county tax levy for
several years.
The present issue, over
whether or not a portion of
these O and C funds should
be considered in the formula
for distributing state funds to
school districts in support of
tneir education programs, is
not new. In the last session
of the legislature a bill was
introduced which would re
quire O and C counties to add
25 per cent of their receiDts
from sales of timber on gov
ernment owned lands to the
true cash value of Itheir assess
able property in determining
how much state support for
scnoois they were entitled to.
At present 20 per cent of state
funds are distributed on the
basis of a school district's
ability to support its educa
tion program as based on the
amount of its true cash value.
The proponents of this bill
argued that since these O and
C funds are in lieu of taxes
they should be considered the
same as other tax revenue. I
SECTION D
PAGES 1 to 8
Medford?
Tribune
MEDFORD, OREGON, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1960
opposed the bill and it died
in committee.
I did it on the grounds that
for many years these lands
had produced no revenue for
us at all and we suffered un
der the handicap of an ex
tremely limited tax base.
Moreover, to tamper with the
present handling of the funds,
after the long struggle to
establish our right to them,
could conceivably result in
the diverting of all O and C
funds to the federal govern
ment. This is a very real pos
sibility according to those
who have worked on the mat
ter in Washington.
The Legislative Interim
Committee on Education, of
which I am a member, has
been working for the past 18
months on an attempt to de
vise a bettor formula for dis
tributing state funds in sup
port of schools. The commit
tee recently approved, by ma
jority vote, a formula which
included 25 per cent of O and
C funds. I opposed this pro
posal. My opposition, as stated
to the committee, was based
on the fact that other coun
ties have certain tax advan
tages, such as publicly owned
utilities, Taylor Grazing Fees,
etc., which are not being
taken into consideration in
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the formula, and I maintain
that if this principle of re
quiring the use of O and C
funds . is sound, then we
should also consider all non
tax revenues available to
other counties on the same
basis. This the committee has
not agreed to do and I there
fore stand on my opposition
to the use of any O and C
funds.
POLIO STRIKES 140
Washington - HJPD - Polio
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18 more than in the previous
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The U. S. Public Health
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