$6.55 Billion is Insufficient

The Oregon Senate approved  $6.55 billion for public schools (The Oregonian, K-12 budget, on second try, passes Oregon Senate). The Oregon House of Representatives is expected to follow suit.

The Oregon Quality Education Commission in its Final Report of August 12, 2012 determined that $8.755 billion was needed to fully fund public education according to the Quality Education Model. Recognizing that this level of funding was unlikely, it provided a plan to phase in full funding over a ten-year period. The amount required to achieve this for the 2013-2015 biennium is $6.895 billion.

Article VIII, Section 8. Adequate and Equitable Funding of the Constitution of Oregon mandates that, "(1) The Legislative Assembly shall appropriate in each biennium a sum of money sufficient to ensure that the state’s system of public education meets quality goals established by law, and publish a report that either demonstrates the appropriation is sufficient, or identifies the reasons for the insufficiency, its extent, and its impact on the ability of the state’s system of public education to meet those goals."

The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that this section of the state constitution is unenforceable. 

Even so, the Oregon State Legislature should fulfill its constitutional obligation.

It Must Have Been a Joke, but I'm not Laughing

 The Oregon State Legislature passed SB 1581 in 2012 establishing the position of Oregon Chief Education Officer. Governor John Kitzhaber issued a statement that outlined what could be accomplished by this officer. Rudy Crew was hired to be that officer. Now, Mr. Crew is leaving less than a year after taking the job. No one should be surprised by this development given the record of Mr. Crew's previous employment. There must be a good joke in this situation, but I don't have the wit to create one.

Mr. Crew's departure is no loss. He barely made his presence felt as an advocate for the adequate funding of K-12 education. I also don't think that I've heard anything from Deputy Superintendent of Public Education, Rob Saxton, about K-12 funding either. Is this due to the fact that the governor is also the Superintendent of Public Education? Perhaps Mr. Crew and Mr. Saxton did/do not have the freedom to advocate as they might have wanted to since they essentially serve(d) at the governor's pleasure. The last elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, Susan Castillo, was hardly effective, but she had some measure of independence since she was directly elected by the voters of Oregon.

Here are a couple of suggestions for action now that Mr. Crew is leaving:
     1. Do not fill the position of Chief Education Officer.  The state legislature should go further and eliminate the position entirely. It is a superfluous job that can be handled by the Deputy Superintendent.
     2. Make the office of Superintendent of Public Education an elected office. This would restore the possibility of having a state superintendent who could act as an independent and vigorous advocate for K-12 education responsible to the voters, not the governor.

Now I have two closing remarks:
     1. I am ready to accept an offer by Governor Kitzhaber to be Chief Education Officer if he decides to fill the vacancy. I can promise that I would stick around to do the job since my wife and I have no desire to move out of state.
     2. I'm prepared to throw my hat in the ring if and when the office of Superintendent of Public Education  is made an elected office.

I'm not joking.

Here is my comment on OregonLive.com to the story "Oregon K-12 budget is back on the Senate's docket".

"$6.55 billion dollars is $$340 million dollars less than the $6.895 minimum level of funding for Oregon K-12 education for 2013/15 recommended by the Oregon Quality Education Model Commission in order to phase in full funding over a ten year period. According to the QEM Commission, $8,754,971,481 is the amount needed for full funding for the 2013-15 biennium. (Quality Education Model Final Report 2012) The Oregon Constitution requires the legislature to provide an explanation as to why it did not provide the necessary funding. I am sure that the legislature will ignore this constitutional provision just as they have in previous years. So, when the legislators do pass a K-12 education budget there should be no self-congratulations since they will not have met their obligations as voted by the people of Oregon by a nearly 2-1 margin in 2000 (Measure 1)."