SALEM, Ore. – Oregon state Sen. Peter Courtney wants to spend $200 million to prepare schools for a massive earthquake.

The effort follows a 2007 survey that showed more than 1,000 Oregon school buildings could potentially collapse in the event of a large earthquake.

“That’s a problem for the state because scientists say Oregon is due for what’s called a magnitude 9 subduction zone earthquake,” according to the Statesman Journal.

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“We do know like in China when an earthquake hit the schools, it was devastating the number of children that were lost there,” Courtney told those who attended his press briefing at McKinley Elementary Tuesday. “We do have this responsibility to the children to get the schools to the point they can take this kind of hit.”

Courtney’s plan calls for the state to use general fund bonds dispersed to schools as grants of no more than $1.5 million to make seismic upgrades, with the money prioritized by potential risk. The 2007 study estimated the total cost for readying all public school buildings at $10 billion, according to the news site.

Voters in 2002 gave lawmakers permission to use state bond funds for school earthquake preparation, but only 25 of the highest risk schools have thus far received funding for improvements. Oregon’s bonding capacity for 2014 is estimated at $800 million, and Courtney’s proposals would be competing with other priorities for a piece of the pie.

“Another proposal that could take up nearly 40 percent of the state’s bonding capacity is to spend between $250 to $300 million seismically upgrading the Capitol building,” the Statesman Journal reports.

Courtney, a Democrat president of the state Senate, wants to spend money on both, but other lawmakers believe he needs to get his priorities straight.

“It is only now after pushing for more spending on the Capitol building and under the heat a tough re-election campaign that he proposes a bonding package for schools,” Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, said in statement, according to the news site. “Not one dime should be spent for the comfort of bureaucrats and politicians while Oregon school children are at risk.”

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That seems like common sense, and House Republican Leader Mike McLane wants to ensure legislators have options. He’s calling for the Capitol improvement and school upgrade proposals to be separated from any general bonding bill, so lawmakers can vote on the issues independently.

“We need to know what the priorities are for Oregonians,” he told the Statesman Journal.

Education leaders, meanwhile, seem encouraged by what Oregon School Boards Association Executive Director Betsy Miller-Jones called “a step in the right direction.”

“Of course, any one of our larger school districts would quickly spend $200 million on upgrades,” she told the news site. “This is still a substantial amount of money to address the needs across our state.”

The last high magnitude earthquake in the region occurred in the year 1700, according to RT.com.