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Senate Bill 273 could provide Oregon school districts with as much as $200 million for construction projects. The money would be offered as a state match for districts able to gain voters鈥� approval for bond measures.

However, Morgan Allen, the legislative services specialist for the Oregon School Boards Association, said Tuesday that school officials should hold off on drawing up blueprints.

鈥淭he bill has quite a journey ahead of it,鈥� he told members of the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 probably an understatement.鈥�

However, the bill took its first step on Tuesday. It was sent with committee members鈥� blessing to the Joint Ways and Means Committee.

It has picked up some amendments along the way. They were hammered out by education committee members with Allen鈥檚 help.

鈥淲e improved what was a pretty solid bill,鈥� he said.

He added that the amendments are intended to make clear that large school districts wouldn鈥檛 receive most of the construction money.

Also, the word 鈥渟ecurity鈥� was tacked onto references to health and safety projects. Some projects may deal with student and staff security, Allen said, but not fit clearly in the safety category.

There are six categories in the bill, specifying the kinds of projects that would get first dibs on money. Priority would be given to projects that:

鈥� Build kindergarten facilities;

鈥� Retrofit space for physical education;

鈥� Retrofit buildings to make them better able to endure earthquakes and tsunamis;

鈥� Increase student health, safety and security;

鈥� Create facilities to boost student achievement.

鈥淭he (work) group had a consensus, but we just wanted to make a few small changes to the bill,鈥� Allen told committee members.

The bill has not yet been scheduled for a hearing before Ways and Means.