The daily Astorian., November 29, 2018, Page 4A, Image 23

4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2018
Budget: Brown’s focus was clearly set on school funding
Continued from Page 1A
In revealing ambitions
for her final term, Brown
announced a record expansion
of school funding, a revamp-
ing of the state approach to
energy issues and readying for
legal battle against the Trump
administration.
Under her proposed two-
year budget, students would
have smaller classes and
more teachers, more Orego-
nians could find housing, and
the state’s highways would be
patrolled by more troopers.
Overall, the governor is
proposing a state budget of
$83.5 billion, including $22.3
billion in general fund spend-
ing. Currently, the state is
working off a $74 billion bud-
get that includes $19.8 billion
in general fund money, which
primarily comes from tax
collections.
Brown unveiled her spend-
ing blueprint at a news confer-
ence at the Capitol. Her ideas
now face the legislative gaunt-
let and certain modification
before the new budget cycle
starts next July.
Part of that process will
be finding the money to make
such a large investment in
education.
State Sen. Tim Knopp,
R-Bend, said he believes there
is bipartisan appetite for such
a budget. In fact, as a member
of an interim committee look-
ing into education funding,
Knopp said he thinks the Leg-
islature will ultimately pass a
larger, more expensive edu-
cation package than Brown is
proposing.
“I think the governor’s pro-
posal is a great starting point,
and there are likely to be addi-
tional investments that need to
be made,” he said.
Over the past three
decades, Oregon has ignored
education spending, Brown
said Wednesday. The state
has fallen into a housing cri-
sis and has failed to fight cli-
mate change. With a strong
economy, now is the time to
reach to the state’s potential,
she said.
“We can no longer do
things the way we have in the
past,” Brown said. “We must
go up as a state, and we need
to decide together what kind
of state we want to be over the
next 20 years.”
Days before Brown won
re-election, she told Salem
Reporter her legacy would
be Future Ready Oregon,
her comprehensive policy
designed to steer the state’s
economy for generations
while withstanding economic
downturns.
The building blocks for
that can be found throughout
her proposed budget, from the
$2 billion increase in educa-
tion funding to the construc-
tion of up to 2,100 affordable
homes to increases in child
welfare services.
“She’s been around long
enough to know this is her
four years of opportunity,”
said Katy Coba, director of the
Department of Administrative
Services. “This budget does
lay that groundwork.”
Brown clearly was focused
on schools.
According to the proposed
budget, education is now
underfunded by $1 billion per
year. To counter that, Brown
is proposing spending $800
million of her new education
dollars on bolstering the K-12
system, expanding the school
year to 180 days and limiting
class sizes for kindergarten
through third grade.
The proposed budget opens
up 10,000 new state-funded
preschool slots and dedicates
$4 million for state visits to
homes with young children.
The governor has also
made career-technical training
a larger part of public educa-
tion, proposing an additional
$133 million for programs in
public schools and $70 mil-
lion to colleges.
Knopp said the empha-
sis on early learning and
career-technical education is
vital.
“That is one thing we have
seen has made a difference in
graduation rates,” he said. But
Knopp said the Student Suc-
cess Committee isn’t done.
It toured the state and found
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“I think you are going to see
some equally ambitious pro-
posals from the Student Suc-
cess Committee in improving
education,” he said.
Housing crisis
While education is a huge
part of her investment pack-
age, Brown also wants to
allocate $406 million to the
state’s housing crisis, spend-
ing on new affordable units,
housing assistance programs,
providing gap financing for
new construction, and fund-
ing efforts to eradicate child
and veteran homelessness in
Oregon.
Brown also unveiled her
blueprint for Oregon to imple-
ment a cap, trade and invest
policy for carbon emissions.
It would set gradually tighter
limits for emissions and allow
companies to sell any excess
emissions capacity in the
form of credits. Those cred-
its could then be sold to other
companies who exceed the
limits. Similar legislation has
been cycling through the Leg-
islature in recent years.
Less expected, however, is
Brown’s proposal to disman-
tle the Oregon Department
of Energy and Carbon Policy
Office and create the Oregon
Climate Authority. Brown
needs legislative approval
to make the change and it’s
unclear what would happen
to other duties in the belea-
guered Energy Department.
Brown’s policy advi-
sors, Jason Miner and Kris-
ten Sheeran, said the Legisla-
ture will look at what the state
wants to accomplish, and put
responsibilities that fit under
Oregon Climate Authority
and move the others to dif-
ferent agencies, such as the
Department of Environmen-
tal Quality.
Sheeran said the state is
leaving the option open to join
an existing third-party mar-
ketplace that several govern-
ments in the U.S. and Canada
use to trade but might start its
own marketplace.
lation increases, and there are
now eight troopers for every
100,000 Oregonians.
Brown plans to double
the number of troopers in
the next decade, and is start-
ing by allocating $11 million
to fill vacancies and add 10
new positions. She also said
she will seek modest gun con-
trol legislation and follow up
on the campaign promise of
spending in rural Oregon.
While the logistics are still
being figured out, Sheeran
said this new agency is
groundbreaking and unlike
any other in the nation.
The policies are flashy
and expensive, but they are
also what Brown campaigned
on. Issues such as educa-
tion spending and a carbon
cap have been examined in
recent months by legislative
committees.
“We’re tackling some big
things: education, health care,
climate,” Coba said. “Those
are all big, big items. And
yet, there seems to be a lot of
political alignment, so it’s not
coming out of left field. These
things are teed up.”
In addition to the more
eye-catching pillars of the
budget, Brown is propos-
ing other impactful policies
throughout. The Oregon State
Police is funded by the general
fund, where there is always
high competition for dollars.
As a result, trooper numbers
have not kept pace with popu-
Voter registration
The governor shared other
proposals to change the state
that don’t cost tens or hun-
dreds of millions of dollars.
She wants to push for cam-
paign finance reform, estab-
lish a commission to look
into “dark money” and a real-
time reporting of spending
and contributions for political
campaigns.
She also wants to expand
her motor voter policy so
Oregonians buying fishing
licenses, taking public col-
lege classes or signing up
for health care through the
state exchange automatically
will be registered to vote, as
they are now when register-
ing with the Department of
Motor Vehicles. Addition-
ally, Brown is proposing that
mailed ballots come with
return envelopes carrying pre-
paid postage.
Brown said legally, she
has the authority to make this
change, though she hasn’t
talked with Secretary of State
Dennis Richardson about
expanding motor voter. She
said the expansion will be
gradual and in line with com-
puter improvements.
The budget plan also
includes $875 million from
new and renewed taxes and
penalties, including a $2 per-
pack cigarette tax. She also
plans to hire 13 internal state
agency auditors to look for
ways to be more efficient.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group, Pamplin Media
Group and Salem Reporter.
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