OREGON HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

For Immediate Release

April 6, 2011

BIPARTISAN BILL ESTABLISHES INDEX TO HELP STABILIZE FUNDING

FOR OREGON SCHOOL DISTRICTS

SALEM—Rep. Chris Harker (D-Beaverton) and Rep. Mark Johnson (R-Hood River) today urged the House Business and Labor Committee to pass HB 3539, legislation aimed at stabilizing school funding at the local district level.

HB 3539 establishes a funding index that links the yearly percentage increase in the state school fund to the percentage increase in salaries and benefits of school district employees.  The bill seeks to ensure that district spending is in line with state budgetary constraints.

“The state provides no guidelines to school districts as they negotiate costs increases, even though the districts depend on state funding to cover these costs,” said Rep. Johnson, who serves on his local school board. “This bill offers school districts a way to negotiate fair contracts that protect classroom funding and hopefully prevent unnecessary layoffs and pay cuts.”

Rep. Harker, concerned with the effect of uncertain economic times and the resulting lowered funding at the district level, says this legislation seeks to begin a thoughtful conversation that breaks from traditional views and works to provide the best outcomes for students, districts and teachers.

“The current system where local school districts negotiate contracts without tangible economic guidelines from the Oregon Department of Education binds the hands of districts and forces them to increase class sizes, cut school days or pursue layoffs when the economy slumps,” Rep. Harker said. “Our schools need help and it is vital that money spent at the local level matches the fiscal reality of our state resources.”

The bill has earned the support of Stand for Children and individual school administrators such as Ken Bucchi of the Oregon Trail School District, who says staffing costs generally consume 81 percent of a school district’s budget, and the costs continue to escalate beyond a district’s ability to pay for the costs.

“Unions and administrative contracts are negotiated at the local level while funding decisions are made at the state level,” Bucchi said.  “With solutions such as HB 3539, school districts can better manage salary and benefit increases and withstand economic downturns and state budget shortfalls without depleting cash reserves or cutting staff.”

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Press Contacts:

Rep. Mark Johnson: (503) 986-1452

Rep. Chris Harker: (503) 986-1434