NEWS

Legislature begins hearings on K-12 budget

Hannah Hoffman
Statesman Journal

The Oregon Legislature will begin its public hearing on K-12 education funding Tuesday to consider whether to accept the $7.3 billion that has been suggested for schools in 2015-17 or find a way to allocate more.

The budget, contained in House Bill 5017, could move quickly through the legislative process. The state has more money coming in than it has in years, and lawmakers are anxious to get going on the schools budget, which is typically the most prominent of all.

A report from the Legislative Fiscal Office shows how the proposed budget will be structured under what was put forward by Sen. Richard Devlin and Rep. Peter Buckley, co-chairs of the joint budget committee.

About $6.9 billion comes from the general fund, which is income tax revenue. Another $327 million comes from anythithe state lottery fund, and $3.9 million comes from "other funds."

Altogether, that comes to $7.27 billion.

The 2015 school year will be the first time kindergartners are required to attend school all day, and that is expected to cost $286.3 million, according to the report.

Overall, Oregon is budgeted to spend $7,738 per student, the report said.

The state school fund provides more money per student in schools with high poverty levels or other challenges, so that number is an average across all students in all school districts.

The report also notes that schools are expected to receive $3.67 billion from local funding, which would include sources such as property tax levies. In total, schools will receive $10.9 billion over the next two years.

Some lawmakers would like to see even more money.

Rep. Sherrie Sprenger, R-Scio, is the vice-chair of the House Committee on Education and a member of the joint budget subcommittee for education. She said she wants a budget of about $7.5 billion, larger than anything that has officially been proposed.

Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, said that figure has been floated by K-12 lobby groups and appeared to be in the realm of possibility when considering how much money the state has.

Courtney has asked the legislature to pass the education budget as soon as possible, an idea no one appears to disagree with.

School districts need to be able to plan ahead, Courtney said. Their budgets must be final by June 30, and if the state doesn't decide on school funding before May, districts around the state are left with just a month to plan.

Sprenger, a former school board member, said she remembers trying to create budgets.

They were never able to plan in advance, she said, because lawmakers in Salem waited so long to decide on a funding level. As a result, it has become a priority for her to get certainty for local school boards.

Former Gov. John Kitzhaber had proposed some changes to how the school fund is allocated, but nothing has come of those ideas so far. Gov. Kate Brown has said she supports Kitzhaber's emphasis on early childhood education but has yet to propose any specific policies of her own.

hhoffman@statesmanjournal.com, (503) 399-6719 or follow at twitter.com/HannahKHoffman

If you go

The hearing begins at 8:30 a.m. in Hearing Room 170 of the Oregon Capitol. Anyone wishing to give testimony must sign up before the hearing on the provided sign-up sheet.

For more information, see the meeting agenda online: http://stjr.nl/edagenda