Governor John Kitzhaber

School Funding Remarks
March 15, 1999

No matter how old you are, I think everyone shares a special feeling and warm memories being inside a school.  It was here that the foundations of our future were laid.  And our own children's future is bound up in the time they spend here, the things they learn here, the friends they make here.

Today, I want to talk to you about that future.  Because our state is beginning the difficult process of creating a school budget -- one that will say a lot about the kind of schools our children will have, about the number of teachers they will learn from, and about the quality of education they will receive.

This debate will also say a lot about our values as Oregonians, about our commitment to our children, and about our willingness to give them the education they need -- and that they deserve.

For years the debate over school budgets has been in terms of what we can afford with the resources available.  I am here today to re-frame the debate about public education in Oregon -- by suggesting that the real issue here is not what we think we can afford, but what we are willing to do for our children's future -- and for the future of this state -- for both the short term and the long term.  I am here to ask that we face the facts.

The short term fact is that we do not have enough revenue in this budget to adequately provide for the education of our children without making unacceptable trade offs that will devastate other important services that Oregonians value and need.

The long term fact is that we have a tax system that lacks the adequacy, the stability and the balance to meet the varied needs this state will experience in the next century.

First, the short term.  During this legislative session -- we must address three specific challenges.

First, we must be willing to recast the debate -- to ask not just what kind of education we can afford with the resources available in this budget -- but, more importantly, what do we need to give our children for the kind of education they deserve.

Second, we must stop pitting one part of our school system against another.  We must stop pretending that our education system starts in kindergarten and ends with high school graduation.  We must face the fact that robbing early childhood programs and higher education in order to help fund K-12 is not an acceptable tradeoff.

Today, we must recognize that the success of our schools depends on whether our children are healthy, well-fed and ready to learn when they arrive at Kindergarten.  And today, more than ever, we must recognize the importance of education beyond high school in community colleges and universities.

Third, we must stop pitting our schools against other important values like health care, keeping our children out of crime, making college affordable, meeting the needs of our elderly citizens, or helping rural communities grow.

For too long, we have looked at our schools and asked "what can we afford" -- regardless of whether that was enough.

Well, today, we have a much better idea than ever before about what it takes to make our children successful.  We know that the high academic standards we are now asking our schools to deliver and our students to achieve are clearly and explicitly designed to help our children meet the social and economic challenges of the 21st Century.  And if we value our children's future, then we need to act on that knowledge during this legislative session.

First, I believe we must commit no less than $4.95 billion from the state to our schools in the next two years.  We must face the fact that less than that will not allow us to meet the goals of the Education Act for the 21st Century.  Instead, it will suggest a willingness to continue a decade-long decline in the quality of public education.  Is that a value we want to express?

Second, we must face the fact that we cannot provide the revenue to meet that budget goal with what is available today.  And that means that we are going to need some modest, temporary tax increases.  If we choose to invest the two percent kicker in our schools as we did in 1991 and 1993 we will need less -- if we don't we will need more.

So my proposal to secure the revenue necessary to achieve a $4.95 billion K-12 budget is as follows:

First, to invest the kicker in our school budget.

Second, to increase the contribution from the Common School Fund by at least $40 million.

Third, direct $70 million from the tobacco settlement to the Oregon Health Plan and use the general fund savings for schools.

Fourth, I propose a one time two percent increase in the tax rate on corporate income from 6.6 to 8.8 percent.  This tax increase should be sun-setted in two years and replaced with a more comprehensive reform of our tax system -- a point I will return to in a moment.

Let me say that my revenue proposals for schools are a starting point -- I am willing to consider other options.  But I am strongly committed to securing the revenue necessary to achieve our goal.  The May forecast may make our job easier -- and I hope it is -- but I do not believe that it will eliminate the need for new revenue.

Finally, let me make it clear that I will not sign a budget for our schools until such time as the legislature demonstrates that it can reach an acceptable level of funding for our K-12 system without devastating the rest of the services Oregonians rely on from the State.

It is time to face the fact that we cannot continue to do what we have been doing since 1990, when paying for schools became the primary responsibility of state government.  Since then, we have been involved in what can best be described as a death by a thousand cuts.  Just look around you today.

All across the state, schools are laying off teachers, cutting programs, and increasing class size.  One recent study demonstrates that our state has on average the fourth-highest class sizes in the country.

All across Oregon schools are deferring routine maintenance and repair of buildings.  Roofs are leaking, heating and air conditioning are wearing out and infrastructure is crumbling.  This does not enhance the learning environment and in some cases could even jeopardize our children's safety.  It this really what we want?

After school programs, often including sports, are being eliminated in schools across the state.  It is no coincidence that juvenile crime has risen at the same time that availability of after school programs has decreased.  Is this what we want?

But perhaps the most insidious fact is that we have secured what amounts to an inadequate primary and secondary school budget at the expense of other important investments.