REDMOND, OR -- A week after voters defeated money measures for two neighboring districts, Redmond Schools Superintendent Dr. Charan Cline remains optimistic about a November bond. "We’re offering something to reinvest into the schools, reinvest into the community, if you will," he tells KBND News, "There’s probably $300 million worth of work we could do in this district. We can run a bond in November that won’t raise the tax rates for voters, and we can raise about $97 million doing that."

Dr. Cline says his district would use the money for water-conservation projects and building needs across the district, "We also have this huge, dire need with Redmond High, that if we don’t do a significant upgrade to it in the next five years, the building becomes unusable. And our community’s clearly committed to keeping that building running and serving kids."

In contrast, the request from Bend-La Pine Schools on the May ballot was for what that district called a learning levy. "A levy is a five-year ask for additional funds to increase operations, to increase the amount of resources you have for kids, the amount of programs you have for kids," says Redmond's Dr. Cline, "The largest and richest school districts around our state have these levies, which is why they’re able to pay their teachers more and they offer students more options, because the people in those communities choose to pay more, to kind of amend the state budget, if you will." He adds, "So, it creates a very unfair playing field for school districts around the state, with these local option levies."

The RSD board is expected to vote in late June on the final list of bond projects headed to voters in November.