Two ballot measures may be appearing in front of local voters later this year, which, if passed, would assist Eugene’s 4J public school district as it suffers through the most recent barrage of budget cuts.
The first proposal is currently being debated by the Eugene City Council, and would impose an increase in income taxes citywide for the next six years to fill gaps in operating costs. The tax would raise approximately $14 million a year to prevent potential teacher layoffs and growth in class size. At present, the councilors have not yet decided to put the tax increase up for a public vote, but last Monday they unanimously directed city employees to begin composing a draft of the ballot measure. Debate is still going on as to when the measure would appear; some hope to place it on a November ballot, while many councilors are hoping it will come up as early as May 17.
The second ballot measure, which was proposed last Wednesday by 4J superintendent George Russell during a board meeting, is a much larger request. If approved, it would request $130 million from voters in state bond money to help improve the facilities of Eugene’s K-12 schools. A portion of the funding would go toward replacing Roosevelt Middle School in South Eugene, which is now in its 66th year of service, as well as to upgrade the heating, paving, plumbing and roofing of several buildings throughout the district.
The funding would also be used to renovate a number of schools to accommodate a greater number of students. Because of the severity of projected budget deficits, the 4J school district is expected to close five schools in the next two years. In addition, as many as 84 teachers and 62 staff members are also expected to be laid off before the 2011-12 school year, along anywhere between nine and 12 furlough days and additional pay freezes.
The deficits are anticipated to be even worse in the future, which is why the income tax proposal is currently being considered. Most educators are strongly in favor of this ballot measure as it would assist with operating costs, but some are skeptical of the second measure. In the face of furlough days and layoffs, they would rather see more funding used to help employees and operating costs than to improve facilities.
“I do support more education funding, but it just seems silly to me that (the 4J district) would ask for improved facilities when they don’t have the faculty to teach in them,” said Sarah Bouwkamp, a University education graduate student.
Bouwkamp is currently a student teacher at Camas Ridge Elementary.
“I teach 28 kindergartners right now,” Bouwkamp said. “With more teachers, each student would feel less like a ‘face in the crowd,’ and teachers could get around to more of the kids more often.”
Still, several educators argue that better facilities are just as important as gaining operating funds through a higher income tax, and hope that voters will pass the proposed bond measure as well.
“I think it’s dangerous to say that one of these proposals is more important than the other,” said Jeff Edmundson, a University education professor. “We have to have them both. A common way for school districts to avoid dealing with furloughs and layoffs now is by deferring maintenance. Obviously to strain the operating budget any more now is crazy, but to put off maintenance or other necessary repair projects any further is just setting up large costs down the road.”
The board of directors for Eugene’s 4J School District will meet tomorrow, Feb. 2, at 6 p.m. to make its final decision on the budget cuts for the 2011-12 school year. Meanwhile, Eugene City Council will vote Feb. 14 on whether they will go ahead and approve the income tax ballot measure for May or November.
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