Salem‑Keizer budget committee approves $1.15 billion budget as students and community urge retention of free youth bus passes

The Salem‑Keizer School District 24J budget committee voted unanimously May 19 to approve the proposed fiscal year 2025‑26 budget of $1,148,650,319 and to set property tax levies, including a permanent rate of $4.521 per $1,000 of assessed value and a $68,893,176 general‑obligation bond levy.

The vote followed more than 90 minutes of committee discussion and public comment, during which 10 registered speakers — many of them students or community members — urged the committee not to cut funding for the district’s free youth public‑transit pass, a program launched in 2022 that provides no‑cost bus access to students.

Why it matters: The budget approval sets the district’s spending and tax authority for the coming year. Public commenters said cuts to the free youth pass would sharply reduce students’ access to school, after‑school programs and health care, and they linked the passes to attendance and equity outcomes.

Several students and community advocates described personal or family reliance on the passes. “I am a sixth grader in Salem Keizer School District. I am here to demand that you keep the free youth passes,” said Nicole Islas during public comment. Former district student Roberto said the passes removed a barrier that sometimes forced him and his peers to miss school or walk long distances: he recalled rummaging “through my backpack for quarters” before the youth…