Six candidates running for three Jackson County legislative seats touted education as their top priority Tuesday night, but they acknowledged it’s not easy to muster bipartisan support to protect it.

"A legislator is truly bipartisan if he really steps across the aisle in those tough votes," said Democrat Alan Bates.

Bates said some Republicans who voted for a tax increase in the last election have been spurned by their own party, while some unions have not supported him because he voted for reform of the Public Employees Retirement System.

Other candidates at the forum, which drew an audience of about 75 at Medford City Hall, included Bates’ opponent for Senate District 3, Jim Wright; House District 6 candidates John Doty and Sal Esquivel; and House District 5 candidates Peter Buckley and Joanna Lofaso.

The forum, sponsored by nine community groups, focused on how elected officials would deal with problems affecting children and families.

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Wright said the last two legislative sessions were notable for being the most partisan and least effective in recent history. "There was a tremendous lack of leadership at that level," he said.

The Legislature needs to make sure that more dollars are reaching the classroom and less is being spent on bureaucracy, said Wright.

He supports funding education first in the budget process, rather than making it one of the last decisions for the Legislature.

He urged holding off on the tax kicker until 15 percent of the education budget is set aside in reserves.

Bates said he would push for individual school districts to raise their own money through local levies. He would also look at getting rid of state mandates and criticized the financial burden that state testing has placed on schools.

Like Wright, he said, "The kicker we could hold until we build up a rainy day fund."

Lofaso said she wants to make education a priority and wants to direct more money toward the classrooms.

She thought providing children with adequate health care was also a priority, but said communities need to address the challenge of methamphetamine abuse and its affect on the family.

Buckley said he recently talked to a child health-care provider in Phoenix who told him, "She has seen the most angry generation of kids."

He said the division between the rich and poor has widened in this state, making it more difficult for children to get health care.

"We are not providing children and families with hope for the future," he said.

Doty, who is a teacher at Crossroads school, said he is running because decisions made in Salem affect his ability to educate. "For me as a teacher, it is very personal to close a school for 10 days," he said.

Esquivel, who is currently a state senator, said that with the financial problems plaguing the state, it is very difficult to be a legislator. "You have to know how to build consensus," he said. "You have to roll up your sleeves and get the work done."

Responding to an audience question, Esquivel said he thought students from other countries should be immersed in English-speaking families. He cited his father, who immigrated to the county, as an example of someone who urged his own children to learn English as fast as possible.

"Should we teach bilingual — I don’t think so," said Esquivel.

Doty said he supported bilingual education, although acknowledging it’s a big cost for schools. "The price tag is high and the imperative is high," he said.

Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail dmann@mailtribune.com