The Oregonian February 11, 2006

HEADLINE: Poll pushes schools to examine image Funding - Poor support for taxes forces the Portland district to weigh missteps and how to remedy them

PAIGE PARKER and ANNA GRIFFIN

Political experts, and city and school leaders say voter fatigue, cost-of-living pressures and a misperception that Portland's public schools are poorly managed have contributed to the tax opposition.

The district has no control over living costs and other outside pressures facing voters. But officials say they can try to convince voters that the district is doing a better job now than in the past. They also must explain recent high-profile financial gaffes and some of the state's highest per-student costs.

"This school district is still paying for the sins of the past," said Lisa Grove, who conducted the poll for the Portland Schools Foundation.

Just 35 percent of Portlanders polled last week said they'd vote for the .95 percent citywide income tax proposed by Mayor Tom Potter two weeks ago. Another 21 percent were undecided, according to poll results released Friday in response to a public records request by The Oregonian.

If reaction to a citywide tax was chilly, those polled within the Portland School District were downright icy when asked if they'd support a local option property tax: 55 percent of those polled said they would vote against it. Another 14 percent called themselves undecided.

The weak support came as a blow to leaders who are scrambling to come up with funding to replace the three-year, $50 million Multnomah County income tax that expired Dec. 31. The hole in the district's budget opens next school year.

In a December poll, a majority of voters said they held a negative view of Portland Public Schools, believing that those in charge care about students but waste money on administration. That negative view has moderated since 2003, when voters passed the income tax, according to the poll.

Yet Grove said voters still bring up unpopular decisions made during Ben Canada's time as superintendent, which ended nearly five years ago.

To be sure, district leaders have stumbled publicly more recently. In August, an arbitrator found Superintendent Vicki Phillips botched the termination of Steve Goldschmidt, an administrator, and awarded the former human resources chief $620,000. In December, the Oregon Department of Education found evidence that the district misused federal anti-poverty money and ordered an audit.

And the decision last spring to close five schools drew TV cameras and crowds of angry parents to school board meetings.

But the district also has made strides. Student achievement increased this year at all grade levels and in all subjects. The school board has raised graduation requirements and tightened guidelines for administrator contracts. The district's teachers have agreed to share health premiums and pay about 7 percent. This fall, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Meyer Memorial Trust awarded the district and the foundation an $8.9 million grant, earmarked mainly for teacher training and curriculum. The Gates foundation said the size of its grant signaled its confidence in Phillips and the district.

Strides taken

That progress, however, doesn't seem to have registered with potential voters, 80 percent of whom do not have school-age children.

"We all have to do a better job of showing people this great resource that we have and giving them specifics about the improvements," said Nancy Hamilton, chief of staff to Mayor Tom Potter.

"This superintendent has made difficult cuts. Our test scores are going up. Our money isn't being wasted. . . . If voters think administrative costs are too high, we need to say clearly, 'It's under 4 percent, and in the private sector, it's X.' We need to be able to give them strong, clear comparisons."

School leaders and campaign strategists say that the district has made those arguments in the past, but that they've always been coupled with a plea for more money and that voters are tired of that.

"We've been trying, but it needs to be a much grander effort," said Bobbie Regan, school board co-chairwoman. "Maybe it's more powerful if when we have those conversations, we're not asking for something."

Campaign mode

Regan said the district has yet to craft its communication strategy, but will go door-to-door if need be to sell parents and others on its strengths.

"We're looking at going into campaign mode," Regan said, "in one way or another."

School board members will vote Monday whether to put a local option before voters, but they still would have time to change their minds before the property tax actually gets on the May ballot. A November vote also is a possibility.

And Hamilton said the mayor's plan is still not off the table.

"We know that the timing may not be right in May," Hamilton said. "Clearly, the numbers are bad, on a good day."

In the meantime, Potter will convene an education summit Thursday. He will invite business and labor leaders, parents, school officials and other elected officials.

Hamilton said school and city leaders have been talking to Gov. Ted Kulongoski's office about some kind of state help.

"This is real"

The governor's office knows "This is real, and it's critical, and they need to be at the table, and that's new," Hamilton said.

Officials also are looking to a combination of cuts, one-time city and county money, and reserves to fill the revenue hole. The school district now has $19 million in its general reserves and $18.8 million in a reserve fund set aside to meet its obligations to the Public Employees Retirement System.

Phillips said the district could take at least $7 million from its general reserves, and perhaps another $6 million or $7 million from the PERS reserve. She said the board will ask members of the public for their thoughts on drawing down reserves and possible cuts.