Two SW Portland doctors filed a city petition today, seeking to provide health insurance “to all children attending the Portland public schools.”

Drs. Gregg and Marcia Coodley filed the petition, and must gather 27,255 signatures from Portland voters by July 3, 2008, to qualify for the ballot.

If the initiative passes, the city would fund the first two years of the program, with school districts picking up two-thirds of the tab beginning in the third year. The initiative text estimates the cost of basic coverage at $4.05 million for 9000 children, or about $450 per child.

“I’d like to move toward all people having health insurance, and I’m willing to start with trying to get children covered in the city of Portland,” says Dr. Gregg Coodley. As a bonus, he hopes that if the city’s public school students are covered by health insurance, it would be “a powerful incentive” to attract and retain families in Portland.

“If a family knew that their kids would have health insurance, I think that would be a big incentive,” he says.

They’ll be raising money to hire signature gatherers, “as well as get as many volunteers as we can, so that we can plan to be on the ballot” next year.

The site’s not quite up yet, but will be at whynotportland.org.