Oregon committee urges billions more in school spending despite lackluster outcomes

An Oregon committee is calling for billions of dollars more in state education funding just to maintain current outcomes – a recommendation even left-leaning news outlets acknowledge will probably fail to convince lawmakers.

“The commission’s recommendations are likely dead on arrival in the Oregon Legislature, which will in January face the task of balancing declining revenues and rising public health care costs following historic federal cuts,” wrote the Oregon Capital Chronicle.

Despite the $11.3 billion already reserved for K-12 spending, the Quality Education Commission asked for an additional $2.5 billion “to maintain the status quo” for the 2027-29 academic years, as well as almost $5 billion more for “new accountability and attendance targets,” according to the article.

“The state now spends about $1,000 more per-pupil than the national average — roughly $19,700 per K-12 student as opposed to the average of about $18,800 — but outcomes have not improved, and Oregon’s kids rank at the bottom in national assessments of reading proficiency when adjusted for demographics.”

‘More money alone doesn’t do it’

Tricia Mooney, chair of the Quality Education Commission and superintendent of the Hermiston Public School District, also expressed doubts concerning lawmakers’ willingness to spend more on education.

“We can’t keep going to the Legislature and say: ‘Give us more money,’” she told the Chronicle. “More money alone doesn’t do it. I think that this further illustrates the fact that we can’t keep doing what we’ve always done and think we’re going to get something different.”

Lawmakers are exploring ways to revamp the modeling system used by commissioners, which the article noted is 27 years old.

“Confidence in the Quality Education Model has been eroding for some time, and this year’s report will only deepen that skepticism,” said Sen. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, in a statement.

Sollman, co-chair of the Joint Public Education Appropriation Committee, tried to replace the commission during the most recent legislative session. However, her proposal failed to pass after resistance from education officials and teachers’ unions, according to the article.

“Oregon’s education system is in crisis,” Sollman concluded. “We desperately need better data to get our students the support and resources they deserve.”

‘It’s really a crime’

The dismal state of public education has even sparked an unlikely candidate for governor – Pencil, or a former college professor campaigning as a six-foot pencil.

“This is an indictment of the people who are running our state,” J. Schuberth, or Pencil, told NPR in May. “[Democrats] have had a supermajority, or close to it, for a long time. That’s who is determining education policy.”

Although NPR noted Schuberth has no serious chance of winning as a write-in candidate, Pencil’s campaign stance is resonating with the greater community.

Suzanne Lassen, Portland resident, said she would write in Pencil since “our current administration’s not very effective.”

“It’s really a crime,” she concluded. “Our education system’s horrendous and it’s only gone down.”