Plan: Current funding process too competitive uorwnuea irom pdge i state and talking about education, it has become obvious to me that we’re not looking at tins the right way,” he said. Kulongoski described the current process as a competition amongst lob byists with “winners and losers.” “We actually compete with each other,” Kulongoski said. In particular, Kulongoski said the K-12 educators have a better lobby and thus get more of the attention in the debate. As such, Kulongoski said, the de cline in state revenues from 2001 to the present is not entirely to blame for in adequate education funding. “That disinvestment policy has been going on for 15 years in this state.” Kulongoski said he was particularly concerned about the decrease in the Oregon Opportunity Grant state schol arship program because it also affects students in Oregon’s private schools. “I have a rising population in this state and a decreasing student enroll ment,” Kulongoski said. “The kids will not end up going to school in this state.” Kulongoski said Oregon youth will go to higher quality schools that are more affordable. The solution, Kulongoski said, has two major parts: Start treating the state’s educational system as a unified enterprise instead of a loose collection of competing agencies, and grow the state’s economy. In order to pay for necessary im provements in the state’s education system, Kulongoski said it is vital to grow the state’s economy. This means having one of the best educated and best trained workforces possible, he said. “We are still recovering from a natu ral resource-based economy,” he said. He stressed that growing the econo my will take time because of the transi tion between a natural resource-based economy and an economy more fo cused on skilled labor. “The one thing we can all do is look at education as an enterprise. ” The governor criticized the Minnis plan because it dedicates funds only from personal income tax revenue. “The difference I have with that is an ideological one,” he said. He said that all residents of Oregon — busi nesses included — have an obligation to pay for education. KuiongosKi saia me ousiness com munity is the single largest beneficiary of higher education. “They benefit from this more than anyone else,” he said. As such, he con tinued, the business community should have a stake in funding education. Kulongoski also said the Minnis plan is too narrow in its focus on only K-12. “I want the debate about the whole enterprise,” Kulongoski said. “I am not telling you that it gives ed ucation at every level everything they need,” he said. “I’m not telling you this is going to be easy.” However, the key to turning around education in this state is getting stable funding for a holistic education enter prise, he said. Then the debate over education funding can focus on what the money is going to be spent on rather than how much money is going to be spent. The governor said critics of the plan would probably say that 61 percent of the general fund going to education would leave inadequate funds for oth er essential government services. However, Kulongoski also said that an increase in education would lead to reduced crime as well as reduced need for social services, which would re duce demand for government services. “It’s basically putting our money where we’ve been talking. We’re prior itizing it,” Kulongoski said. The governor said the legislature has already accepted parts of the plan in one form or another. “There’s not a piece of this that has n’t passed one part of the legislature. It’s just sitting there,” he said. The governor also made some gener al remarks about education in the state. “I think a lot of kids are just bored to death in high school,” said Kulongos ki. “They’re just looking for something a little more challenging, and we’re not going a very good job of it. ” The governor said closer partner ships between high schools and com munity colleges will allow students to take more advanced classes. “I think the pivot point for education in Oregon are the community colleges,” he said. “That’s why I’ve pushed this idea of a seamless system.” The seamless system would allow any student with a two-year degree from an Oregon community college to receive iuu crecm ior rnose iwo years at any public or private college in the state. “It works. It’s a good investment. It’s efficiency,” he said. The governor also said that stan dards to graduate high school in Ore gon are much more lax than they are in many other parts of he country. “There is no one in this room who looks at the global economy and be lieves you can compete with that stan dard,” Kulongoski said. However, simply raising the stan dards for graduation will not fix the problem, he said. “I have to have the teachers who are qualified to teach that type of a cur riculum and it’s going to take some time to get there.” At the close of his address, the gov ernor said any discussion of education would be incomplete if it didn’t in clude discussion of those who decide not to go to college. He said people who would rather work with their hands are given “sec ond class status in society” if they choose not to go to college. Kulongoski said tradespeople and other laborers who choose different paths should not be stigmatized. “Somebody has to pick up the tools ... and put all this together,” he said. Kulongoski was introduced by LCC President Mary Spilde. Spilde said the governor’s speaking tour is the “beginning of an important conversation” about the future of edu cation and the future of the state itself. A group of minority students from LCC’s Rights of Passage summer acad emy was in the audience. “The summer academy is for stu dents of color from our local middle and high schools,” Spilde said. “These students are investing their time now for higher education in the future; an investment we all know pays off.” A group of students played drums and sang a Native American song be fore the governor’s remarks. When students were given a chance to ask the governor questions, one student asked whether it was hard to be governor. Kulongoski replied, “Yes. And when the legislature is in town, it’s very hard. When they’re gone, it’s better.” gabebradley@ daily emerald, com 1R,e&t