A10
OREGON
East Oregonian
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Oregon schools need billions to close funding gap
By ALEX BAUMHARDT
Oregon Capital Chronicle
SALEM — To meet state
education goals, Oregon
schools are going to need
more money from the Legis-
lature, a new analysis finds.
Every two years, the
Education Quality Commis-
sion estimates the funding
required to operate “a system
of highly-effective schools”
in the state and recommends
a budget to the governor and
the Legislature.
For the 2023-25 bien-
nium, the commission found
Oregon’s education budget
needs nearly $11.9 billion,
or $2.7 billion more than it
receives.
“The state has made prog-
ress in recent years to narrow
the investment gap between
what it has historically
budgeted for K-12 and what
that system needs to achieve
the state’s educational objec-
tives,” the commissioners
wrote. “Unfortunately, that
progress has faced barriers.”
These include revenue
shortfalls, the rising cost of
goods and services and the
discovery that some of the
corporate taxes constitution-
ally dedicated to the educa-
tion budget, appear to be
going into the state’s general
fund instead. The committee
said that “bears investigation
and correction.”
The commission was
created by the Legislature
in 1999 to make education
policy and budget recom-
mendations. It’s made up of
11 people including Colt Gill,
the director of the state’s
Education Depar tment,
several school and educa-
tion service district super-
intendents, the president of
the state’s largest teacher’s
union, Reed Scott-Schwal-
bach of the Oregon Educa-
tion Association and two
education consultants.
The recommendation to
increase the budget is based
on years of underfunding,
according to the commission,
and the addition of factors
that would improve the qual-
ity of education in Oregon.
These include paying for
more school nurses, coun-
selors and librarians to
get schools up to nation-
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Pendleton High School senior Muriel Jones-Hoisington
collects her diploma on Saturday, June 4, 2022, during
commencement at the Pendleton Round-Up Arena. The
Education Quality Commission estimates for the 2023-25 bi-
ennium, Oregon’s education budget needs nearly $11.9 bil-
lion, or $2.7 billion more than it receives.
ally recommended ratios
of these staff to students. It
also recommended paying
for more staff to work with
English language learners.
The budget analysis
includes an addition of
$450 for each classroom in
the state for unreimbursed
supplies. According to a
survey from the National
Center for Education Statis-
tics, 90% of K-12 teachers
spend an average of $459
out of pocket on classroom
supplies each year.
Smaller classes,
more training
If the Legislature fully
funded the budget, it could
pay for more teacher profes-
sional development days,
teacher training and mento-
ring, new computers and
computer education staff
and allow schools to reduce
class sizes.
The commission recom-
mended the Legislature
consider a budget that
would pay for universal
preschool.
In addition to sounding
the alarm on some corporate
tax dollars meant for educa-
tion that were funneled to
the state’s general fund,
the commission criticized
the Legislature for under-
f u nding the education
budget and then shifting
pots of money to fill that
hole. In 2021, the Legisla-
ture approved an education
budget that was $2 billion
short of what the commis-
sion had recommended. The
commission said lawmak-
ers plugged that gap with
Student Success Act dollars.
Passed in 2019, the act is
funded by a corporate tax
and provides schools with
$2 billion every two years
to address student mental
and behavioral health, class
sizes and academic dispari-
ties among students.
Oregon’s school fund-
ing gaps go back to 1990,
when voters capped the
percentage of local property
taxes dedicated to schools.
This put the burden on the
Legislature to make up the
funding for districts; it has
historically not fully funded
the amount requested by the
commission.
Oregon law directs the
commission to identify at
least two alternatives for
achieving a greater level
of educational quality if
the budget request is not
fully funded. The commis-
sion recommended that the
Legislature “remain faithful
to the intent of and targeted
funding for the Student
Success Act” and not use it
to backfill the state’s educa-
tion budget. Secondly, it said
that if the Legislature cannot
approve a budget that closes
the funding gap in the next
biennium, to focus on clos-
ing it gradually in the next
two or three biennia.
‘Submarine ballots’ and State higher ed commission seeks huge
‘Betsy Brigades’ race to increase in student financial aid
beat election deadlines
By SAM EDGE
The Oregonian
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — The Nov. 8
general election is more than
12 weeks away, but Wednes-
day, Aug. 12, was the deadline
to mail “submarine ballots” to
some voters.
That’s the name of ballots
that go to military and over-
seas voters who won’t be able
to get a ballot, cast their votes
and get it back to their county
clerk in time to be counted.
Like those on the USS Oregon
attack submarine submerged
somewhere in the seven seas.
The deadline, which is
covered in Oregon Revised
Statute 253.565, is just one of
many coming and going as the
election draws closer. One of
the key dates next week will
decide if a top candidate for
governor goes on the Nov. 8
ballot.
Deadline looms for
‘Run, Betsy, Run’
Secretary of State Shemia
Fagan’s office has said it
needs to have petitions seek-
ing to put former Sen. Betsy
Johnson on the Nov. 8 ballot
submitted no later than
Aug. 16. That will give offi-
cials two weeks to make sure
the petitions add up.
Johnson, a longtime
Democratic state senator from
Columbia County, resigned
from the Senate and left the
Democratic party last year to
mount a bid for governor as an
unaffiliated candidate.
To do so, state law requires
she submit petitions with
enough valid signatures to
equal 1% of the total vote in
the last presidential election.
Based on the 2020 election,
Johnson needs 23,743 valid
signatures.
Signatures are checked
against voter records to invali-
date anyone who doesn’t qual-
ify as an Oregon voter.
The longtime rule-of-
thumb is to turn in 50% more
signatures than needed. That’s
a comfortable buffer to ensure
the number thrown out doesn’t
push the effort under the mini-
mum needed to qualify.
Johnson campaign spokes-
person Jennifer Sitton said late
last week that the campaign
was well on track to far
surpass the number needed.
Volunteer “Betsy Brigades”
are out in force with petitions
as part of the “Run, Betsy,
Run” campaign.
Johnson supporters were
collecting signatures at the
Deschutes County Fair, while
other campaigns for governor,
congress and the Legislature
also had booths.
Former Happy Valley
Mayor Lori Chavez-DeRemer
drove a golf cart decked out in
campaign signs to shuttle fair-
goers from the parking lot to
the entrance.
The Johnson campaign
confirmed Thursday that it
is on pace and will announce
plans for events around the
petition submission in the near
future.
Election day is Nov. 8;
vote counting ends
Nov. 15
The general election date
is Nov. 8. That’s when voting
stops. But counting votes will
go on until Nov. 15.
Under a state law that
went into effect this year,
mailed ballots postmarked
on or before election day will
be counted if they arrive at
county clerks’ offices within
one week after Nov. 8.
The new balloting rules
were used in the May 17
primary, which was marred by
smeared bar codes on ballots
in Clackamas County that
further delayed final results
on key races. One of the most
watched was the 5th Congres-
sional District upset win by
Democratic challenger Jamie
McLeod-Skinner of Terre-
bonne over incumbent U.S.
Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Canby.
Schrader won Clackamas
County, but it wasn’t enough
to flip the overall outcome.
Adding a wrinkle into the
math for the general election
is that the week after Nov. 8
will include two days with no
regular mail service. Not only
is Nov. 13 the usual Sunday
with no mail pick-up and
delivery, but so is Veterans
Day, on Friday, Nov. 11.
The cut-off date will
remain seven calendar days
after election day, with prop-
erly postmarked ballots
having to arrive by Nov. 15,
according to Ben Morris,
communications director for
the secretary of state.
No ballot with a postmark
after Nov. 8 will be counted
during the one week period.
No ballot, regardless of post-
mark, will be counted after
Nov. 15.
During a briefing in the
spring, Fagan said the state
works with the U.S. Post
Office to aggressively sweep
all mailboxes for ballots in the
days after a statewide election.
The majority of ballots are
mailed in the county where
they are to be counted and
arrive within the first couple
of days after the election.
The most common ballots
with a qualifying election
day or earlier postmark that
arrive later, or sometimes are
delayed beyond the one-week
deadline, are those mailed
outside of the county where
the voter lives — or some-
times, the state. These ballots
have to go through sorting
hubs that can delay delivery.
VISIT US ON THE WEB AT:
www.EastOregonian.com
SALEM — Oregon’s
Higher Education Coor-
d i nat i ng Com m ission
unanimously approved a
budget request Thursday,
Aug. 11, that includes a
fourfold increase in fund-
ing for financial aid grants
for Oregon students.
The request for higher
education funding in 2023-
25 includes a nearly $780
million increase to the
Oregon Opportunity Grant
and Oregon Promise, the
state’s premier financial
aid awards. The budget
also recommends contin-
ued funding for the Oregon
Tribal Student Grant, which
covers not only tuition but
also housing and other
college costs for enrolled
members of Oregon tribes.
“It is a big investment, but
it’s an investment we need.
It’s an investment students
have been advocating for for
years,” said Maggie Gates,
legislative director for the
Oregon Student Associa-
tion. “It’s just really exciting
to see this sort of bold vision
finally coming about.”
In total, the Higher
Education Coordinating
Commission is asking for an
almost $2 billion increase in
funding, up to $5.3 billion.
The request also includes a
proposed 10% increase in
funds for public universities
and a nearly 30% increase
for community colleges,
though part of that increase
is one-time money.
The proposed budget is
preliminary. The request
goes next to the gover-
nor’s office, and after that is
subject to votes by the 2023
Legislature. Commission
Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission/Contributed Photo
College graduates are seen in this 2017 photo from the state Higher Education Coordinat-
ing Commission. The panel on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, asked for a fourfold increase in
financial aid grants.
staffers don’t assume ulti-
mate funding levels will
match their requests.
“We do not expect to get
everything we’re asking
for,” Ramona Rodamaker,
the commission’s deputy
executive director, said.
“In many ways what we’re
laying out here is a menu of
things we would like (state
legislators) to invest in and
support.”
The Oregon Tr ibal
Student Grant was funded
for the first time this year,
as an effort to help address
longstanding inequities that
indigenous students face in
higher education. The Legis-
lature funded it for only one
year, but the commission’s
proposed budget would
make that funding ongoing.
The commission expected
up to 700 tribal members to
take advantage of the grant
in its first year, but commis-
sion staffers said Thursday
that only around 400 people
have submitted complete
applications so far.
The commission is
asking for a more than
eightfold increase in fund-
ing for the Oregon Oppor-
tunity Grant, the state’s
largest need-based aid award
for low-income students.
Commissioners want to
see an increase from $200
million in 2021-23 to $945
million in 2023-25.
Commissioners also
voted to ask for $41 million
more for the Oregon Prom-
ise grant, which pays
community college tuition
for Oregon high school
graduates and GED earn-
ers who meet GPA require-
ments and enroll in a
community college shortly
after high school.
Oregon currently lags
behind the national average
state student aid award of
$921 per full-time student.
The state only gave $574 in
financial aid per full-time
student in 2021, according
to a new national report.
Cannon said that fully
funding the budget would
help Oregon become one of
the top financial aid states
in the country, approaching
the funding levels of neigh-
boring Washington which
spent $1,900 per-student in
2021.
Oregon’s community
colleges asked the higher
education commission for
a 44% spending bump this
year to help cover the cost
of inflation, loss of federal
pandemic aid and budget
shortages caused by a steep
downturn in enrollment
during the pandemic.
OREGON BRIEFING
100,000-pound drilling
rig tips over in Portland
PORTLAND — The operator
of a 100,000-pound drilling rig was
seriously injured after the machine
tipped over outside Oregon Health &
Science University on Friday morning,
Aug. 12, pinning the worker inside.
The operator, who has not been
publicly identified, was extricated
from the machine’s cab by Portland
Fire & Rescue and taken to a trauma
center, department spokesperson Lt.
Laurent Picard said.
No one else was injured, Picard
said.
The injured worker is an employee
of Vancouver-based construction
company Pacific Foundation and was
working at the site of a hospital expan-
sion project, according to Tim John-
son, general manager of Skanska,
the construction and development
company behind the project.
Skanska is investigating what
caused the rig to tip over, Johnson said
in a statement Friday afternoon.
Johnson said Skanska does not have
permission to release the name of the
worker, who is being treated at the
Oregon Health & Science University
Hospital.
Portland Fire & Rescue received
reports of the rig tipping over just
before 10:45 a.m., Picard said.
Construction crew members posi-
tioned a jack to lift the rig up and off
the worker before fire crews arrived.
Fire officials then broke the glass of
the cab and extricated the worker, Port-
land Fire & Rescue said in a statement
Friday afternoon.
The extrication took 14 minutes,
officials said.
Oregon catalytic converter
crime ring busted
BEAVERTON — A months-long
investigation by the Beaverton Police
Department may have completely
dismantled a local organized crime
ring responsible for a large portion of
catalytic converter thefts up and down
the West Coast, police said Thursday,
Aug. 11.
Two alleged ringleaders and at least
12 of their suspected accomplices
were indicted July 29 by a Washing-
ton County grand jury on dozens of
aggravated theft, racketeering and
money laundering charges.
The investigation began in late 2021
when detectives said Tanner Lee Hell-
busch, 32, of Beaverton, was running
an illegal fencing operation by posing
as a legitimate business buying and
selling catalytic converters. In March,
police said they pulled over Hellbusch
with more than 100 stolen catalytic
converters, worth about $80,000 on
the black market.
Hellbusch’s arrest led detectives to
the person they believe is the top of
the crime enterprise: Brennan Patrick
Doyle, 32, of Lake Oswego.
The investigation came to a head in
late July when police searched eight
locations, including a rented lakefront
house in Lake Oswego, where they
arrested Doyle and said they found
3,000 catalytic converters, hundreds
of thousands of dollars in cash, a high-
end car and jewelry.
Doyle, Hellbusch and the 12 other
not-yet-publicly-named defendants
are accused of trafficking more than
44,000 stolen catalytic converters with
an estimated street value of more than
$22 million since January.
— The Oregonian