FAQ #1: What projects will be funded by Measure 27-143?

Measure 27-143 will fund critical improvements and major repairs to each school in Central School District 13J, providing safer and more efficient spaces for kids to learn. 

If the measure is approved by voters, some of the projects that will be funded by Measure 27-143 will be:

• A new, modern elementary school to replace Monmouth Elementary School (MES), with vastly improved safety features, air conditioning and an accessible playground;

• Upgraded facilities at other schools, including roof replacement at Central High School (CHS) and modernizing HVAC systems for efficiency and air quality at Independence Elementary School (IES) and Ash Creek Elementary School (ACES);

• Improved safety and security at all schools;

• Additional space for career and technical education (CTE) at Talmadge Middle School (TMS);

• Improved athletic fields (CHS and TMS) and inclusive/accessible playgrounds at IES and ACES;

• Provide additional classrooms to address overcrowding 

FAQ #2: What is a Community Bond Oversight Committee and who sits on that committee?

A Community Oversight Committee is an independent, community-based advisory committee with the charge to monitor the planned improvements, costs, schedule, and progress of the a school bond made. It is made up of volunteers from the community. The CSD13J School Board voted to create a Community Bond Oversight Committee to provide an additional level of transparency for the community during the period bond funds will be spent. If voters pass the bond measure during the November 2024 General Election, the School Board will invite individuals to volunteer for the committee shortly thereafter. 

FAQ #3: How will this bond affect my property tax payments?

Measure 27-143 will ask voters in the Central School District 13J service area to approve a school bond in the amount of $90 million to be paid over a period of 30 years. Payments would begin in November 2025 for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. The levy rate is targeted to be $3.75 per $1,000 of assessed value. This is only $0.0544 (or 5.44 cents) more per $1,000 than the rate of $3.6956 per $1,000 of assessed value that was levied in November 2023 for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. If voters approve the bond, there will be one year of lower property tax that will be assessed in November 2024 for the fiscal year 2024-2025 payment, resulting from a School Board vote earlier this year. See FIGURE 1 below for an illustration of how the bond payments will be assessed over the term of the bond. This rate is applied to the Total Assessed Value. For all but new construction homes, this is typically a much lower value than the amount shown as your Real Market Value because of the way Total Assessed Value is calculated under Oregon Law. The blue portion applies to existing bonds and the light gray portion is the new bond. The total of both are $3.75/$1,000. The new bond DOES NOT ADD $3.75/$1,000 to the amount you would otherwise pay. See FIGURE 2 for a calculator where you can estimate your future property tax payment related to all CSD13J bonds. Just enter your 2023-2024 (from your November 2023 tax statement) Total Assessed Value to the yellow box in the top line and the rest of the amounts will automatically calculate. Note that these are estimates based on the November 2023 statements and the latest statements for the 2024-2025 property tax fiscal year, which were just made available online through the Polk County Tax Assessors office.     

FAQ #4: Didn't the School District apply for and win a $6 million grant?

CSD13J was recently awarded a $6 million Oregon School Capital Improvement Matching (OSCIM, pronounced "Awesome") Program grant from the State of Oregon. These funds will only be awarded, however, if the District passes Bond Measure 27-143. If the bond doesn't pass, the funds are not awarded and expire at the end of the election cycle. (REF: Quality Education Commission Report 2024)  That said, if the bond is passed by voters, this additional $6 million in grant funds will be added to the $90 million bond amount to increase the total available to improve CSD13J facilities to $96 million. 

FAQ #5: Why can't the District just save up the money for these improvements? They should be managing within their budget.

Schools in  Oregon receive funding from the state to cover most of their operational costs (this is supplemented by some federal money, grants and a handful of smaller state-mandated funds). The vast majority of those funds go to pay for teacher and staff salaries. CSD13J is managing within their budget, even during a time when other school districts are laying off hundreds of teachers to make ends meet or establishing local option levies to supplement funds for operations. For examples of other districts' budgetary shortfalls, read this recent article on OPB.org.  

Major expenses that are not related to operations are funded by construction bonds, paid from property taxes. Expenses funded by construction bonds primarily include the costs to build, improve, modernize, and make major repairs to school buildings. Although a small amount of the operations budget covers maintenance expenses, those relatively small amounts were never intended by legislators to cover major expenses. School funding is a highly regulated practice, and schools don't have the option under Oregon law to move significant funds away from their intended purpose of educating students to cover major building expenses.  

Although there is a maintenance portion of the school district budget, it's generally only enough for day-to-day (like trash pick-up costs and cleaning, which fall under this part of the budget) and smaller maintenance items (like servicing existing building systems and sealing cracks). Anything related to infra-structure often falls in the "major repairs" category simply due to the large numbers/size of items needing repair or maxing out their expected lifetime. Click on this link to read an article about the aging infrastructure problem for schools all across the US.    

FAQ #6: I haven't been inside any of the schools in some time. I thought everything was fine with our school buildings, but now I'm not sure.  

To help the community better understand the issues we are trying to correct with the school bond, a series of school tours have been organized by the District. You can read this announcement in the Polk Itemizer Observer, or choose a date that works for your schedule from the list below.