With budget season nearly done, school districts have a real State School Fund number: $10.2 billion.
Enough Senate Republicans returned to work Thursday, June 15, to give the chamber a quorum and allow legislation to move again. House Bill 5015, the State School Fund bill, passed the Senate on Friday, June 23, unchanged from the House-approved bill as expected.
Education advocates are mostly appreciative after the recent history of inadequate funding. They said it still fell disappointingly short, though, of what is needed to maintain current services for all children, much less expand opportunities or respond to additional needs.
“We are moving in the right direction,” said OSBA Board President Sonja McKenzie. “I’m glad to see that. I’m grateful for that. However, the reality is it really isn’t enough.”
McKenzie is a board member for the Parkrose School District. Like some districts, it is facing a budget shortfall at $10.2 billion. She said her district would tap other funds to avoid layoffs, but it wouldn’t be able to hire additional staff to help students still struggling coming out of the pandemic.
Legislative analysts set the current service level needs for 2021-23 at $9.5 billion. Education leaders told the Legislature that $9.5 billion would lead to crippling cuts at most districts.
The Oregon Association of School Business Officials calculated based on current contracts that the state needed to provide $10.3 billion for most districts to avoid shortfalls. But they heard from some districts, such as Parkrose, that they had a higher need.
The high-poverty eastern Portland district has one of the state’s most diverse student bodies. The communities it serves were disproportionately hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. Like a lot of districts, Parkrose is also facing falling enrollment, which reduces its share of the State School Fund.
Legislators touted $10.2 billion as a record-high State School Fund, but inflation means the fund sets a record almost every biennium. HB 5015 did increase school funding by $900 million from 2021-23, a nearly 10% increase. That still misses the $11.9 billion the Quality Education Commission says Oregon should be spending. The commission prepares a report every two years on how much Oregon should spend to create a high-quality education system. In more than two decades, Oregon has never reached that investment level.
According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data, Oregon spent almost $500 less per pupil than the national average of $14,347 in 2021.
McKenzie said $10.2 billion coupled with some thrifty use of local resources will allow her district to be responsive to student needs but not as supportive as they want to be.
“There are going to be some disproportionate impacts to districts like mine,” she said. “What we are going to be able to provide will not meet 100% of the need.”
– Jake Arnold, OSBA
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