In an election year dominated by the pitched battle for Congress and major governors' races, state ballot measures involving education are largely tied to a similar theme: the burden of funding K-12 programs when state finances are shaky. In some cases, initiatives, constitutional amendments, and other ballot measures seek to tap new sources of…

In rural Oregon, the one-school, 240-student K-12 Perrydale school district faces the possibility of consolidation with another school district. Oregon's Ballot Measure 5, passed in 1991, reduced property taxes to equally low levels around the state, drying up much of the locally raised money that is the lifeblood of school districts. In addition…