PORTLAND — Supporters of Measure 62 call it “CSI Oregon,” a way to increase spending on the Oregon State Police crime lab by carving out a chunk of lottery proceeds.

But opponents say the proposed constitutional amendment would trim an estimated $200 million from lottery revenue over the two-year state budget cycle and could end up cutting into discretionary funds that normally go to schools.

The loss per student is estimated by opponents at about $300 per child.

“It’s a pretty substantial chunk,” said Chuck Bennett, director of governmental relations for the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators.

Measure 62 was proposed by former state lawmaker Kevin Mannix as a companion to his Measure 61, a mandatory sentencing law also on the November ballot that would send first-time offenders for property crimes to prison for three years.

But Mannix points out the two bills are unrelated in their scope because Measure 61 affects state prisons while Measure 62 is directed at supporting county law enforcement agencies and expanding their access to the state crime lab.

Half of the 15 percent of lottery proceeds that would be devoted to Measure 62 would go to the forensic lab and criminal investigations, while the other half would provide additional support for district attorneys, sheriff’s offices and at-risk children’s programs in the counties.

Mannix said Measure 62 would amend the Oregon Constitution because it is the only way to dedicate lottery money to public safety.

But opponents say that could drain money away from schools because the additional 15 percent cannot be subtracted from dedicated funds such as the 15 percent of Oregon Lottery revenue that already goes to parks and natural resources.

Overall, about two thirds of lottery revenue is spent on education and the remainder goes to the original lottery goal of economic development or dedicated funds such as gambling addiction programs.

Opponents of Measure 62 say it would draw only from the lottery revenue that is not dedicated to specific programs.

“It only removes money from 51 percent of the lottery fund,” Bennett said. “Unfortunately that portion is for education and economic development.”

Mannix, however, says the historic growth of the lottery will pay for the additional funding for the crime lab and county law enforcement.

He said the lottery has grown more than 17 percent every two years since it was established in 1984, and it has grown by more than 23 percent every two years for the past eight years.

“So growth of the lottery alone will accommodate every dollar going into the public safety fund without taking way any current dollars,” Mannix said.

Lottery officials, however, said they had not provided those figures and that revenue growth has been very haphazard over the years, so averages can be misleading.

Bennett also called the figures misleading and noted that a smoking ban in bars and taverns where many lottery games are played is expected to reduce sales when it goes into effect on Jan. 1.

Nationally, lottery sales grew about 9 percent between 2005 and 2006, according to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries.

Recently, however, lottery sales have declined with the economic downturn in many states, including major population centers such as Arizona, California, Texas.

In Oregon, lottery growth is expected to increase only 0.1 percent for the 2009-11 biennium, according to the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis in its latest state economic forecast.

“Kevin believes we can grow our way out of this but he doesn’t know the lottery has hit a ceiling right now and we can’t grow out of it,” Bennett said.

For many small counties, however, any extra money for law enforcement would help clear away a deep backlog of cases.

Polk County Sheriff Robert Wolfe says he has just two criminal detectives who are trying to handle 100 cases between them.

Wolfe said the measure would boost his $7 million biennial budget by more than $650,000 and allow him to hire more detectives.