Oregon Ballot Measure 60 (2008)

Measure 60

Teacher "classroom performance", not seniority,
determines pay raises; "most qualified" teachers retained, regardless of seniority.

Results
	Votes	%
Yes	673,296	7001386100000000000♠38.61%
No	1,070,682	7001613900000000000♠61.39%
Total votes	1,743,978	100.00%
Registered voters/turnout		85.7%

Results by county

Yes — No

Source: Oregon Secretary of State ^[1]

Oregon Ballot Measure 60 was an initiated state statute ballot measure filed by Bill Sizemore and R. Russell Walker. Sizemore referred to it the "Kids First Act." The measure appeared on the November 4, 2008 general election ballot in Oregon.^[2]

The goal of the initiative was to create a new Oregon state statute mandating that only "classroom performance" — not seniority, additional duties, qualifications, advanced degrees, or additional training — would determine teachers' pay raises. It would also mandate that the "most qualified" teachers be retained under employment, replacing seniority as a major consideration.^[3] "Classroom performance" and "most qualified" are not defined by the measure.

This is the second time Sizemore has placed a similar measure on the ballot. Measure 95 in 2000 was defeated 65–35.

The official ballot title for Measure 60 was: Teacher "classroom performance", not seniority, determines pay raises; "most qualified" teachers retained, regardless of seniority.

Newspaper Endorsements

Here is how Oregon's major newspapers have endorsed on the measure:

Newspapers	Yes	No
The Oregonian		No
The Portland Mercury	Yes
Medford Mail-Tribune		No
Statesman Journal		No
Bend Bulletin		No
Portland Tribune		No
Eugene Register-Guard		No
Daily Astorian		No
East Oregonian		No
Corvallis Gazette Times		No
Coos Bay The World		No
Willamette Week		No
Yamhill Valley News Register		No
Gresham Outlook		No
Hillsboro Argus		No

Specific provisions in the initiative

The language of the proposed statute is:

Section 1. Teacher pay raises and job security shall be based on job performance. (a) After the effective date of this 2008 Act, pay raises for public school teachers shall be based upon each teacher’s classroom performance and not related or connected to his or her seniority. If a school district reduces its teaching staff, the district shall retain the teachers who are most qualified to teach the specific subjects, which they will be assigned to teach. A determination as to which teacher is most qualified shall be based upon each teacher’s past classroom experience successfully teaching the specific subject(s) or class, as well his or her as academic training in the relevant subject matter.
(b) This 2008 Act shall be called the “Kids First Act” and shall supersede any previously existing law, rule, or policy with which it conflicts. This Act shall not be implemented in a manner so as to violate or impair the obligation of any contract in existence as of the effective date of this Act, but shall govern later extensions to those contracts and new contracts entered into after the effective date of this Act.

Note: "Classroom performance" and "most qualified" are not defined in the measure.

Estimated fiscal impact

The state's Financial Estimate Committee prepares estimated fiscal impact statements for any ballot measures that will appear on the ballot. The estimate prepared by this committee for Measure 60 says:

Measure 60 would require between $30 and $72 million in additional state and local spending in the first year.
After the first year, it would require between $30 and $60 million a year in additional state and local spending.^[4]

Supporters

Preserve Our Best Teachers was the name of the committee sponsoring the original initiative.^[5] There is no committee filed to support the ballot measure.

The Oregonian reported in September 2007 that Nevada millionaire Loren Parks was the leading contributor to Measure 60.^[6]^[7]

Randall J. Pozdena, Ph.D., of the Cascade Policy Institute, authored a commentary that argued, "Absent serious structural reforms such as school-level competition, paying for performance in the classroom may be the best way to stimulate higher academic achievement among our K-12 public school students."

Arguments in favor of Measure 60

Good teachers should be rewarded.
"While money may not be the only way to attract the teachers we need, it is a useful tool and one we can readily wield."^[8]
What's more important to our kids' education: tenure or good teaching skills? (Oregon doesn't have tenure.)
The proposal will "reward good teachers, weed out bad ones and improve the quality of the state's schools."^[9]

Opposition

Measure 60 is opposed by the Parents and Teachers Know Better Coalition, which describes itself as "a broad coalition of parents, teachers, and school advocates who care about Oregon's students & schools."^[10] The Parents and Teachers Know Better campaign is part of the Defend Oregon Coalition, which opposes all five of the ballot initiatives on the 2008 ballot measures that are sponsored by Sizemore.^[11]

Members of the coalition include Stand for Children, Oregon PTA, United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley, Oregon Education Association, American Federation of Teachers-Oregon, Oregon School Employees Association, and the Human Services Coalition of Oregon, among others.^[12]

Arguments against Measure 60

Notable arguments made against Measure 60 include:

Because none of the terms are defined in the measure, there is no way to know how teachers will actually be judged, or who will be doing the judging.
It is "costly, ill-conceived, inflexible and potentially damaging to the children of Oregon...poorly written, vague and not based on best practices.”^[13]
It could lead to more standardized testing and cause low-income areas to lose teachers.

Donors opposing Measure 60

Defend Oregon, as a committee, is fighting seven different ballot measures, and supporting two others. Altogether, the group has raised over $6 million in 2008.^[14]

Major donations to the Defend Oregon group as of October 8 include:^[15]

$4.1 million from the Oregon Education Association.^[16]^[17]
$100,000 from School Employees Exercising Democracy (SEED)^[18]
$100,000 from the AFL-CIO.
$50,000 from Oregon AFSCME Council 75.

Petition drive history

Initiative Petition 20 was originally approved for circulation on August 30, 2006, and the signatures were turned in in July. 83,724 signatures were found to be valid of those submitted, versus a qualification threshold of 82,769.^[19]

A union-funded watchdog group asked the Oregon Secretary of State to conduct an investigation into how some of the signatures on the measure were collected. Bill Bradbury, the Secretary of State has said, "...most all of the initiatives Oregon voters will decide this fall got there through practices that are now illegal. But those practices were legal at the time most of the signatures were submitted." The state Elections Division is currently investigating the charges.^[20] ^[21] ^[22]

Notes

External links

Note:: This article was taken from Ballotpedia's article about Oregon Ballot Measure 60

Basic information

Supporters

Bill Sizemore's official website

Opponents

State of Oregon

Salem (capital)

Topics

Society

Regions

Western	Oregon Coast Portland Metro Tualatin Valley Willamette Valley

Eastern	Harney Basin High Desert Palouse Treasure Valley Central Oregon

Southern	Rogue Valley

Shared	The Cascades Columbia Gorge Columbia River Columbia Plateau Great Basin Mount Hood Corridor Trout Creek Mountains

Metro areas

Largest cities

Counties

Topics in Oregon legislation

Crime and sentencing	Capital punishment Measure 11 (1994) (mandatory minimum sentencing) Measure 40 (1996) etc. (victims' rights)

Elections and voting	Direct Legislation League Vote-by-mail Term limits List of Oregon ballot measures

Gay rights	Same-sex marriage Oregon Citizens Alliance Measure 9 (1992) (homosexuality and education)

Environment	Bottle bill Nuclear power Wind power Solar power Coal power

Land use	O&C Lands Beach Bill (1967) Land Conservation and Development Act (1973) Measure 37 (2004) & 49 (2008)

Health care	Death with Dignity Act Oregon Health Plan

Minimum wage	Measures 36 (1996), 25 (2002)

Taxation	Tax revolt Measure 5 (1990) (landmark tax law) Measures 47 (1996) and 50 (1997) (adjusted Measure 5) Kicker tax rebate Measure 97 (2016)

Miscellaneous	Compulsory Education Act Adoption rights Alcoholic beverages in Oregon Bicycle Bill Cannabis in Oregon

Influential people	Loren Parks Bill Sizemore

Background, further reading	Oregon legislature Direct democracy in Oregon Oregon government Oregon history Oregon ballot measures

2007 ← Oregon 2008 Elections → 2010

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