For the upcoming May 17 special election, there are two funding measures for Eugene’s public schools. One is a citywide personal income tax that would potentially be assessed to Eugene residents who earn more than $22,000 per year in taxable income, and the other is a bond measure that aims to generate $70 million in bonds paid with property tax revenue. The income tax would generate an estimated $16.8 million for the Eugene 4J and Bethel school districts during its potential four-year lifespan.
Given that most students do not own property in the Eugene area and few earn that much money, the measures are unlikely to affect them. However, the measures represent the funding crunch that has befallen public education in Oregon.
One positive of the income tax measure, Measure 20-182, is that it has a short time span. It’s not meant to fix the system over the long term. Instead, it’s trying to patch the short-term problem while a long-term solution can be reached at the state level. Eugene residents won’t be married to this tax forever, giving taxpayers an opportunity to re-evaluate the measure’s effectiveness four years from now.
These measures are necessary because of the state’s $3.5 billion shortfall, and public schools receive a large portion of their funding from the state legislature. The income tax is only targeted to keep class sizes at their current sizes and to restore school days lost to budget cuts. The bond measure is to be used for more general school funding, including building repairs, technology upgrades and other things currently funded by the state’s general fund.
Eugene School District, one of two school districts that would potentially benefit from Measure 20-182, has an estimated 186 layoffs pending before the 2011-12 school year. The measure could potentially fund some positions proposed to be laid off, as one of its two missions is to preserve current student-to-teacher ratios.
Education budgets in Oregon have been decreasing on a per-student basis over the last 20 years, falling from $7,104 in 1992 to $6,084 in 2010-11, once adjusted for inflation. The resources have been systematically diverted away from education throughout the last two decades, which cannot have helped the educational environment facing today’s students. Measure 20-182 gives an opportunity to help correct this funding imbalance in the short term, giving time for the state legislature to correct it in the long run.
Although these elections don’t directly affect University students, the Emerald Editorial Board encourages you to vote in favor of them to provide local children with an opportunity for a better education.
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