Governor Unveils Plan to Strengthen Public Schools, Higher Ed

‘Education Enterprise’ will stabilize school funding, restore lost programs the Governor said.

Governor Ted Kulongoski in a Salem, Oregon classroom Photo by: Tim King

(SALEM) - Governor Kulongoski Tuesday issued the details of his "Education Enterprise," a blueprint for reducing class sizes, restoring lost academic programs, and expanding access to higher education for Oregon students.

"My Education Enterprise Plan will reduce class sizes and provide Oregon students access to a quality education, so they have the tools to succeed," the Governor told a gathering of school officials, teachers, and community leaders outside Stephens Middle School in Salem

The Education Enterprise would commit at least 61 percent of the state’s general fund every biennium to Oregon’s public education system—pre-K through post-secondary education. It would also guarantee a minimum 10-percent increase in funding for each sector of the enterprise every biennium, over the previous budget.

Under the Governor’s plan, the 2007-09 budget would serve as the base for funding education in the future. For each biennium thereafter, every sector of the system—pre-K, K-12, community colleges, universities and the Oregon Student Assistance Commission—would receive a guaranteed minimum increase of 10-percent over the previous budget.

The Governor’s plan also includes funding to restore a meaningful Education Stability Fund (which some call the education "rainy day" fund), giving Oregon the means to minimize the harm to education that a future economic downturn could cause.

"Education is the key to opportunity—the opportunity to make our lives more fulfilling, our families more secure, and our communities more prosperous," the Governor said. "I know first-hand how a quality education can lead to greater opportunity, which is why my plan measures success by the education of each child. Our strategy is simple: we invest in programs proven to work so taxpayers get maximum value for their education dollar and students are given access to a world-class education they deserve."

The plan makes higher education more affordable and significantly increases access to college for middle class families. At the Governor’s direction, a workgroup of educators and business leaders has proposed restructuring the Oregon Opportunity Grant to reflect a "shared responsibility" among students, their families, the federal government and the state to meet college costs and increase access to colleges and universities. The "shared-responsibility strategy" will make college truly affordable again for all who have the ability to pursue a post-secondary education, the Governor said. Even students from families that cannot afford to contribute will be able to "work their way through college" again, as generations of students did before them.

"My goal—and the goal of the Education Enterprise—is to take away the worry about paying for higher education, not only for low-income Oregonians, but also for middle-class Oregonians," the Governor said. "This should be one thing middle-class families shouldn’t need to worry about—whether they can afford to send their kids to college."

The Education Enterprise will enable the system to achieve the following critical goals:

1. Provide access to Oregon Head Start for all eligible three- and four-year-olds.

2. Give schools the resources to reduce class sizes and ensure full school years.

3. Attract and retain highly-qualified teachers and other school employees.

4. Restore the value of the high school diploma and provide every student the opportunity to take college preparatory courses or technical training classes.

5. Replace out of date technology, keep textbooks up-to-date and ensure a full curriculum with programs like music, art, PE and technical training.

6. Remove barriers for the traditional student who wants a two-year, four-year or postgraduate college degree and open doors for the non-traditional student who wants a new skill, regardless of whether that student is 19 or 59.

7. Make a college education affordable again by expanding newly-redesigned "earned opportunity" grants for low-income and middle-income families.

8. Expand and improve community college programs and facilities to meet the growing needs of Oregon’s workforce, communities and industries.

9. Get better value for our investments, by making our public education system more accountable to taxpayers and voters.

10. Create better opportunities and a brighter economic future for all Oregonians.

The Education Enterprise will also bring accountability to public education, the Governor said.

"I will propose requiring local school boards to work with the Department of Education to carry out performance audits every three to four years," he explained. "These audits will help districts find the best practices in the areas of business services in order to drive more dollars into the classroom where they belong."

The plan would also help educate the public on the budgeting and financial auditing procedures of school districts, so Oregonians can understand how their local dollars are spent. In this way, the Governor hopes to make the system more transparent.

"Just as important, we’ll ensure that spending priorities stay with local communities," the Governor said. "Local control is a cornerstone of public education in Oregon, and we know that works in Bend may be different from Coos Bay or Portland."