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The month of November was dominated by talk about the inadequacy of state funding for K-12 education in Oregon. It was a primary reason cited by Portland Public Schools as they navigated negotiations with their teachers’ union, and also by Salem-Kaiser as it announced SKPS would be enacting $30 million in reductions immediately.
School funding is a very complex issue, so it’s not surprising that it is one where solutions can be a bit elusive. Governor Kotek has committed to deeply studying and bringing more transparency to how Oregon funds schools in the coming year, which is welcome news.
In the meantime, we have created a six-page document with graphs and narrative content that highlights some of the key features of Oregon’s funding for schools over time, how HSD spends its money, our current costs, and the various ways we demonstrate both fiscal responsibility and stewardship of taxpayer dollars. (Find this and more information on the Budget Matters page of our website.)
We do not currently anticipate any mid-year reductions to our budget in 2023-24, and the State’s December Economic and Revenue Forecast supports that belief. That said, costs for our district continue to escalate and we will be keeping that in mind as we develop a balanced budget for the 2024-25 school year next spring.
Legislators again received positive financial news, as the Forecast showed another surge in revenue that is projected to generate an additional $343.5 million in net general fund and lottery resources for the 2023-25 biennium. That said, the State’s revenue outlook appears to have stabilized. The revenue boom seen during the 2021 tax year is unlikely to be repeated, with collections expected to revert back to their long-term trends. Traditional gains in General Fund collections are expected to resume in the 2025-27 biennium and beyond. (Source: Josh Lerner, Oregon Office of Economic Analysis)
As we look ahead to the short Legislative Session in 2024, we are hopeful that resources will be allocated to summer learning programs, which have proven to be immensely helpful to HSD students as we continue to recover from the pandemic and work to ensure students have the supports they need to be successful in school.
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