PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Governor Kate Brown released her recommendation Wednesday for a $23.6 billion budget for the 2019-2021 biennium.
Above the recommended budget, however, Brown is also seeking a $2 billion investment in education for the state of Oregon. Brown’s agenda stated that while the state’s education system was once a point of pride, “[O]ver the past three decades, Oregon has failed to keep its commitment to our children by not significantly increasing spending per student since the early 1990s.”
Brown’s plan would provide $800 million in funding to increase the school year statewide to 180 days. Education advocates often say that Oregon students have had roughly a year less of school by the time they graduate, compared to peers in other states, due to the state’s short school year.
The $800 million would also seek to limit class sizes from kindergarten through third grade, capping kindergarten classes at 20 students, and first through third grade classes at 23 students per classroom.
Another major goal of the investment plan is to improve Oregon’s high school graduate rate, which currently sits at 77 percent statewide.
“We know, and I’m hearing from teachers, certainly from students, and talking to parents across the state, that very large class sizes are an issue,” Brown said in a press conference Wednesday. “When we have large class sizes, students struggle to concentrate and learn.”
Portland Public Schools board member Julia Brim-Edwards, speaking as an individual board member and not on behalf of the district, called the governor’s proposal a great first step. The district’s superintendent and board members released a joint statement today saying, “We want to thank the Governor for prioritizing education in her budget and investment plan. We look forward to working with the Legislature during the 2019 session to make meaningful, sustainable, student-centered investments in Oregon’s public schools.”
“She went big on education. I think if we want our kids to be ready for college, career, and life, we need to make investments that will help get them there,” Brim-Edwards said.
In particular, she said she was really excited about the proposal to lengthen the school year statewide. Portland Public Schools spokesperson Harry Esteve told KOIN 6 Wednesday that the district currently has 174 instructional days per year.
Another part of the proposal, which would address kindergarten readiness, was applauded by Children’s Institute president Swati Adarkar. Between the recommended budget and the additional investment, Brown said she would want to spend $285 million expanding access to preschool for 10,000 low-income children.
“We know if kids are coming to kindergarten behind, that we’re not closing those gaps. There’s an urgency about reaching those kids now, but we know we can’t get there in one legislative session,” Adarkar said, explaining that there are 30,000 children in the state who are not currently enrolled in and could benefit from high-quality preschool.
The biggest question facing the proposed investment, of course, is where the money would come from. The proposal was light on details when it came to funding sources; when asked about the financing in her press conference, Brown pointed to the successful $5 billion transportation spending package that was approved in 2017.
“We got agreement on where we wanted to make key investments when we did the transportation package,” Brown said. “We’re working to get full alignment in terms of where we want to make investments in our education system. Then we’ll talk about where we’re going to find the resources to do that.”
Finding the resources, however, will be a challenge – and that could imperil some of the proposal.
Stand for Children executive director Toya Fick said that while the governor’s ideas are all in the right direction, she was hoping to see more money for Measure 98 in the recommended budget – not just in the separate, $2 billion investment package. Measure 98 funds dropout prevention, career and technical education, and college education opportunities for high schoolers.
“We think, regardless of the new revenue, that the need [for Measure 98] is really pressing,” Fick said.
Fick said her conversations with legislators on both sides of the aisle show there’s support for investment in education – but that doesn’t mean finding the money will be easy.
“That will be the contentious part of the next 7 to 8 months as we head into the legislative session and close out by July,” Fick said.
Watch: Governor Brown unveils details of the 2019 state budget