A new report says that Oregon is $1.8 billion shy of providing enough resources to its K-12 schools.
The report, released March 31, was mandated by Measure 1, a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2000 that requires the legislature to adequately fund schools so they can meet state K-12 education goals.
“We have never met that level [of funding], and we are actually getting further away from that level,” said Sen. Richard Devlin, a Democrat and a co-chairman of the committee that wrote the report.
The Measure 1 report comes soon after six school districts filed a lawsuit against the state, alleging that it has repeatedly failed to provide adequate and stable funding for K-12 education despite legislation mandating that it do so.
The report shows that while the state is second in SAT participation, the achievement gaps between white and Asian students and their African-American, Hispanic, and Native American counterparts continue to increase.
