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Sisters, Oregon
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The contents of the on-line edition of The Nugget represent a selection among the stories that appear in the weekly print edition.

Schools get financial break at the polls
By Jim Cornelius

Sisters schools have dodged $150,000 in cuts as Oregon voters approved Ballot Measure 19 on Tuesday, Sept. 17.

The measure converts Oregon's education endowment fund to an "education stability fund" and allows the legislature to tap the fund for $150 million to shore up badly depleted school budgets.

Sisters schools included the Measure 19 funds in the budget last spring. If the measure had not passed, the district would have had to make cuts.

"It's good news that it passed," said School Superintendent Steve Swisher. "It's just that much that we won't have to cut."

However, local schools still face some $200,000 in cuts due to the statewide budget shortfall, according to Swisher. The legislature on Tuesday, Sept. 17, agreed to refer a temporary income tax hike to voters on the January ballot in an effort to plug at least part of the hole in the budget.

"We kind of have to look at this in conjunction with the legislature's decision to put a referendum on the ballot," said School Board Chair Jeff Smith. "If that passes, we're in reasonably good shape for the coming fiscal year."

Being forced to wait till January for a clear financial picture puts a strain on school districts, however.

"The difficulty there is that we're halfway through the school year," Smith said.

Smith noted that if the ballot measure fails, mid-year cuts will go deeper than cuts undertaken at the beginning of the school year. Having already spent a good portion of the year's budget on salaries, more positions would have to be cut to save the same amount of money.

The school district has already cut some positions and left others unfilled starting out the school year.

Smith said the board will try to gather the best financial picture possible and gauge the likelihood of a tax hike passing in January before any further cuts are made.

Smith expressed little confidence that permanent, stable funding for education is on the horizon.

"It's hard to have confidence in this legislature," he said. "Oregon has really legislated through referendum and initiative."

"There seems to be some realization in the voters that we're in a serious situation," Smith said. "Whether that will translate into (support for) a better tax structure, it's hard to say."

Swisher was optimistic about the chances for education funding reform.

He believes the Measure 19 vote indicates that "our electorate is willing to vote to support schools as long as they know where (the money) is going and what's at stake."

Smith noted that local option funds approved in November 2000 have left Sisters in much better condition than many districts, some of which are anticipating deep cuts.

"We ought to thank the voters of Sisters for local option," Smith said. "That nearly $700,000 (per year) will cushion whatever cuts we have to make."

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