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Background
Fact sheet - June 1, 2006
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Oregon’s Constitution:
- Article VIII, Section 3 requires the Legislature to “provide by law for the establishment of a uniform and general system of Common schools.” 1
- Article VIII, Section 8 requires the Legislature to appropriate in each biennium a sum of money “sufficient to ensure the state’s system of K-12 public education meets quality goals established by law.” 2
- Article VIII, Section 8 was added to the Constitution in November 2000 as Ballot Measure I and was passed in every one of Oregon’s 36 counties and statewide by a 2:1 margin. 3
Cost/Benefit to Oregon taxpayers:
- Each high school dropout costs Oregon taxpayers $8,460 per year on average. 4
- Nearly 80 percent of all prison inmates in Oregon are high school dropouts, at an average cost to taxpayers of more than $23,000 per inmate each year. 5
- A college graduate contributes $8,250 annually to the state coffers. 6
How Oregon compares:
- As of 2003-04 average administrative costs in Oregon’s school districts (district central administration plus school-level administration) statewide were 8 percent. 7
- Between 1990 and 1998, despite a flourishing economy, Oregon’s per pupil education funding dropped by 20%, when adjusted for inflation. 8
- In 2003 Oregon ranked 28th in per pupil K-12 funding among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, down from 16th in 1992. 9
- When measured as a percentage of the average personal income of the state’s citizens, Oregon’s national standing in support of schools dropped from 11th in 1992 to 34th by 2003. 10
- The 6.1% decline in Oregon’s K-12 funding per student between the 2002 and 2003 school years was the largest annual percentage decline measured by any state between 2002-2003, and the second largest year-to-year decline among the 50 states and the District of Columbia since 1989-90. 11 In contrast, in 2002, Oregon ranked 6th nationally in terms of per-capita expenditures on its corrections system. 12
- Based on NAEP 2004 test results, only about one-third of Oregon’s 4th graders and 8th graders are proficient in math and reading. 13
- Recent assessment tests administered in Oregon reveal that only approximately one-half of the state’s 10th graders are “meeting standards” in reading, math and writing. 14
- As of 2002, the state’s 71 percent high school graduation rate ranked 32nd in the nation. 15
- With an average class size of 23.9 students, Oregon elementary school classrooms were the 2nd most crowded in the nation as of 2000. 16
- Oregon Constitution, Article VIII, Section 3
- Oregon Constitution, Article VIII, Section 8
- ibid
- Oregon Department of Education, 2004
- ibid
- ibid
- Oregon Department of Education, Audited District Data, 2003-04
- OR Legislative Council on the OR QEM, April 1999, www.ode.state.or.us/sfda/qualityed/docs/origqemreport.1999.pdf)
- US Census Bureau, 1992, 2005
- US Census Bureau, 2003
- ECONorthwest, The Condition of K12 Education in Oregon, January 2005
- National Education Association, June 2005
- National Association of Educational Progress, 2004
- Oregon Department of Education, OR Statewide Report Card, 2003-04
- www.edweek.org/rc/states/oregon.html
- ibid