Proposed 2024 Local Option
Levy Measure
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½ûÂþÌìÌà has referred a levy measure to the May 21, 2024 ballot. The School District is currently funded in part by a levy that funds teaching positions across the district. If the measure passes, it would authorize continuation of property taxes at $1.99 per $1,000 of assessed property value for an additional five years.
If the measure passes, the levy is estimated to collect property tax revenue in the amount of $101.5 million for ½ûÂþÌìÌà in school year 2025-26.
If the measure passes, the levy would fund teaching positions and/or classroom supports at every school in the district. The levy would fund approximately 660 teachers and classroom support staff annually over five years.
If the measure passes, the levy would fund teaching and other positions to:- Support a well-rounded education, including career and technical programs and enrichment and electives, so students graduate with the skills for career or college.
- Provide classroom support staff, such as educational assistants and reading specialists for students struggling with academic or mental/behavioral health issues.
- Help maintain class sizes and prevent significant increases across the district.
If the levy passes, there would continue to be fiscal supervision and independent oversight:
- The measure would maintain the existing local option levy rate of $1.99 per $1,000 of assessed property value and would provide tax revenue that would be directed to supporting schools.
- If passed, this local option would require independent citizen oversight so that tax dollars would be used for purposes approved by local voters.
- Funds would be placed in a sub-account to facilitate oversight and accurate reporting.
- No tax revenues collected through the local option levy would be used for district administration.
If passed, the levy would continue the current tax rate of $1.99 per $1,000 of assessed property value for an additional five years. The owner of a home assessed at $275,706—the district’s current average assessed property value—would pay $45.72 per month, or $548.65 per year.
Frequently Asked Questions
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If the measure passes, how much would it cost?
The measure would authorize renewal of the current property tax rate of $1.99 per $1,000 of assessed property value for an additional five years. The owner of a home assessed at $275,706.00—the district’s current average assessed property value—would pay $45.72 per month or $548.65 per year.
What would happen if the measure does not pass?
If the measure does not pass, the teaching and support positions would not be funded as proposed and the current property tax of $1.99 per $1,000 of assessed property value would not continue. The current tax expires in June 2025.
Why was this levy measure referred to the voters?
The school district is funded through state, local, and federal dollars. There is an approximately $100 million gap between what the state funds for K-12 education and the school district’s proposed expenditures. If the measure passes, the proposed levy would collect property tax revenue to fill the gap in the school district's budget.
If the measure passes, how would the levy be monitored to ensure dollars are spent on teaching positions and/or classroom supports?
In serving the students of Portland, the district strives to be fiscally responsible with taxpayer resources. Through many years of volatile budgets and the pandemic, school district leaders have worked to preserve classroom education and class sizes. At the same time, ½ûÂþÌìÌà has advocated for a greater level of state investment by the Legislature and worked to ensure that resources are focused on the classroom.
½ûÂþÌìÌà is also subject to regular independent financial and performance audits to monitor effective use of taxpayer resources.
Election Timeline
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- April 30, 2024: Voter registration deadline
- May 1, 2024: Ballots mailed to voters
- May 21, 2024: Election Day
- June 17, 2024: Final Election Results Certified
Board Materials For 2024 Levy
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Levy Renewal Board Resolution (No. 6859)
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RESOLUTION No. 6859
Call for Five-Year Local Option Levy to Support Schools
RECITALS
A. Strong, healthy public schools are the foundation of Portland and are vital to educating students to prepare them for college, work, life and their future; supporting families and equitable student outcomes; keeping neighborhoods thriving; building community; and strengthening the local economy.
B. ½ûÂþÌìÌà (½ûÂþÌìÌÃ) serves more than 44,000 students and enrolls a high proportion of the city’s students in its schools.
C. Through conversations and engagement with the greater Portland school community, ½ûÂþÌìÌà created a vision that reimagines what and how our students will graduate prepared for college, career and beyond. After identifying the essential skills and attributes educators should have and changes needed in our school systems, ½ûÂþÌìÌà released a multi-year strategic plan focused on all students having equitable opportunities and supports to achieve high academic goals and outcomes.
D. ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ’s staffing levels and educational programming, which support every student’s success, are essential to realizing ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ’s vision and implementing the strategic plan.
E. For over two decades, Portland voters have shown their support for strong schools and educational programs by approving and renewing a local option levy to fund ½ûÂþÌìÌà schools.
F. As recently as 2019, voters again affirmed their support for ½ûÂþÌìÌà and its students by passing a five-year local option levy to support teaching positions and educational programs with 77% approval.
G. Since it passed in 2019, the local option levy has supported an average of 850 teaching positions each school year, contributing to the school district’s equitable staffing of schools and commitment to providing necessary supports for struggling or underserved students.
H. ½ûÂþÌìÌà has dedicated significant focus and resources to supporting students following the pandemic, including specialized support in reading and math, as well as more counselors, social workers and mental health supports.
I. This local option levy requires independent oversight by the Community Budget Review Committee (CBRC) to ensure that levy dollars are used only for purposes approved by local voters.
J. The CBRC has affirmed, in annual reports to the ½ûÂþÌìÌà Board of Education, that local option funds have primarily been used to fund hundreds of teachers and maintain or lower class sizes.
K. ½ûÂþÌìÌà intends that all funds raised under this proposed levy will be used for Portland students in ½ûÂþÌìÌà schools; and none of the funds will be intended for distribution under the state school funding formula.
L. The District has an independent financial audit annually and independent performance audits of District operations.
RESOLUTION
1. The Board shall ask voters to approve a five-year local option levy in May 2024 that will provide an estimated $101.5 million in 2025-2026; $103.0 million in 2026-2027; $106.0 million in 2027-2028; $109.3 million in 2028-2029; and $112.5 million in 2029-30.
2. The levy revenue shall be used to fund teaching positions at every school in the District, ensuring students have access to a well-rounded education with many equitable enrichments for elementary and middle grades and focused electives that help prepare high school students for a career or college, including career and technical programs and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs.
The levy revenue could also fund other classroom support positions across the District, such as educational assistants, reading specialists, and special education certified personnel, to help identify students with mental or behavioral health issues, academic issues, or other needs.
3. The fully allowable levy rate shall continue to be $1.99 per $1,000 of assessed value. The cost for a home with an assessed value of $275,706, the current average in the ½ûÂþÌìÌà district, would be $45.72 per month.
4. The Community Budget Review Committee will continue to provide independent oversight so that the funds are spent as the voters intended. The CBRC will continue to publish an annual report about the use of the local option revenues and their contribution to student achievement.
5. The Board will continue to require performance audits of the District’s activities, programs and services to support efficient use of resources, as well as to seek opportunities to improve school effectiveness and capacity-building for increased accountability. Audits will continue to be conducted by internal auditors who will work at the direction of the Board to define the scope and design of audits.
6. The Board of Directors of School District No. 1J, Multnomah County, Oregon, finds that, for the reasons and purposes described in the proposed measure set forth below, it is necessary and appropriate to levy a local option tax under ORS 280.040 et seq. for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, and for four additional fiscal years thereafter each commencing July 1.
7. A serial levy election is hereby called to be held at the General Election on the 21st day of May, 2024, in the manner and between the hours provided by law, at which there shall be submitted to the electors of School District No. 1J, Multnomah County, Oregon.
8. ½ûÂþÌìÌà authorizes the Board Chair, Superintendent, or the Superintendent’s designee (the “Authorized Representative”) to take any actions necessary to place the measure that is attached as Exhibit A on the May 21, 2024, election ballot, and to place the explanatory statement that is attached as Exhibit B in the voter’s pamphlet for that election. The Authorized Representative shall file the measure with the elections officer of Multnomah County not later than March 1, 2024, and the explanatory statement not later than March 21, 2024. The Authorized Representative is authorized to make technical corrections or correct typographical errors to the filed documents.
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Levy Renewal Staff Report
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Date: January 25, 2024
To: ½ûÂþÌìÌà Board of Education
From: Lisa Merrick, Senior Manager, Government Relations
Liz Large, Contracted General Counsel
Subject: Recommendation to refer renewal of ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ’s Local Option Levy to the May 2024 Primary Election
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BACKGROUND
½ûÂþÌìÌÃ’s five-year local option levy was renewed by 77% of the district’s voters in November 2019 at a rate of $1.99 per $1,000 of assessed property value. Similar to many districts across the state, ½ûÂþÌìÌà supplements dollars allocated through the state school fund by administering a local option levy, which has funded over 800 teaching positions.
In 2024-25, ½ûÂþÌìÌà is projected to receive $110,067,000 in revenue from the levy. In order to continue the levy and sustain this level funding for classroom positions from 2025-2030, the Board will need to refer the renewal to district voters for approval, and we recommend that the Board do so at the the May 21, 2024, primary election. This approach is in alignment with the recommendation made last summer on the timing of the local option levy renewal by the Board’s Local Option Levy Committee.
To place the levy on the May 2024 ballot, the Board needs to vote to renew the local option levy at the current rate of $1.99 per $1,000 of assessed property value or to refer a different rate on the local option levy to the May 2024 ballot.
FISCAL IMPACT
The local option levy renewal at the current rate of $1.99 per $1,000 of assessed property is projected to raise $111.3 million in 2025-2026; $112.6 million in 2026-2027; $113.8 million in 2027-2028; $115.1 million in 2028-2029; and $116.4 million in 2029-30, which would support an estimated 750-800 teaching positions.According to Oregon statute, school district local option collections are excluded from the State School Fund formula up to a prescribed limit. The limit is updated each year, and for Fiscal year 2024, the limit is $123,238,555 for ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ.
It is important to note, if projected collections are close to the applicable limit, future growth in levy revenue could result in actual revenues exceeding the limit and impact the amount the District can collect without sacrificing revenue to the State School Fund formula. The District will need to advocate for and secure a change in state law to maintain all revenue collections as the voters’ intend. According to the most recent projections, ½ûÂþÌìÌà is not expected to reach the statutory limit during the upcoming levy cycle if it renews the local option levy at the current rate of $1.99 per $1,000 of assessed property.
KEY DATES AND DEADLINES
- March 1, 2024: Notice of ballot title due to Multnomah County Elections
- March 21, 2024: Measure filing deadline (noticed and completed)
- March 25, 2024: Voters’ pamphlet statements due
- May 21, 2024: Primary Election
Staff proposes the following actions to meet the timeline listed above:
- February 6: Board meeting and discussion
- February 20: Board meeting and vote on referral to the ballot; notice to the Tax Supervising and Conservation Commission (TSCC).
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the ½ûÂþÌìÌà Board of Directors refer the local option levy to voters to be considered in the May 2024 primary election and maintain the rate of $1.99 per $1,000 of assessed property value
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This information was reviewed by the Oregon Elections Division for compliance with ORS 260.432
Local Option Levy Fact Sheet
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Click on the image to see a downloadable PDF of the fact sheet
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