State Dist. 37 Rep. Jeff Kropf, R-Halsey, told the District 55 School Board that education would be a priority going into the next legislative session, beginning in January.
Rep. Kropf attended the regular school board meeting on Nov. 13.
Measure 88, the Oregon Legislature’s alternative to Measure 91, increasing the amount of federal taxes deductible on state income taxes from $3,000 to $5,000, is expected to reduce revenues by $174 million over the next biennium, Rep. Kropf said. “We’re pretty comfortable we can deal with that on a budgetary level.”
Measure 7, which requires government agencies to pay property owners for regulations reducing fair market property values, is a different issue altogether, Rep. Kropf said. He understands why the public voted the way it did, but the impacts of the measure remain uncertain.
“How is it going to affect us,” Kropf said. “We don’t know. My guess is we’ll write legislative rules (to further define the measure) so we don’t have a full-employment measure for attorneys.”
Going into the next biennium, the state budget is already $500 million to $700 million in the hole, Rep. Kropf said. Some of that is the result of settlements in lawsuits and increases in insurance premiums.
Hearing what the school districts are saying, when it comes to education, Rep. Kropf said, “the education budget is going to get the number one priority.”
In the past, school districts have not been able to get numbers from the state they can work with early enough, Rep. Kropf said. He would like to get a number to school districts earlier so they can prepare their budgets.
Rep. Kropf said he anticipates a less controversial, less contentious session.
The governor has indicated he is willing to sit down in a more bipartisan manner, Rep. Kropf said. At the same time, legislators are hoping for more personal time with the governor in the next session.
In reality, the Legislature and governor work well together most of the time, but there are sometimes philosophical differences, Rep. Kropf said. “There will always be a debate about how much to spend on education.”
Other issues facing the Legislature in the next biennium include the Oregon Health Plan, which will be an $800 million budget item, Rep. Kropf said. “There are a lot of challenges. I think we can meet them.”
Rep. Kropf urged the school district to let him know how bills affect the district monetarily, not just in direct financial costs but in the little things districts must do as a result of regulations, how mandates affect district finances.
He wants to move toward more creative ways to deal with educational issues. Rep. Kropf said he would like to see the state and federal governments turn loose of a school district, dropping mandates and allowing a district to develop its own curriculum, like a “charter district.”