by DCG
Oregon Governor Kate Brown
Despite a massive education budget that is 13% of their total $37 billion state budget, Oregon has lousy results when it comes to getting kids to graduate. They rank 49th in the nation.
One of the problems is that dollars invested in education aren’t going to the classroom, they are going toward ever increasing Public Employee Retirement System (PERS), healthcare benefits and salaries. Read about the disastrous state of that program (over $22 BILLION in unfunded liabilities) here.
Despite the current situation of education in Oregon, the National Education Association (NEA) endorsed demorat Governor Kate Brown for re-election last year (she won). Excerpts from the NEA endorsement:
“Throughout her career, Kate has pushed for high-quality public education at every level—from increasing the number of preschool students to improving high school graduation rates to expanding access to technical education for adults. Understanding that reasonable class-sized lead to increased student success, Kate has proposed using additional funding to drop kindergarten class sized from an average of 22 to 20, and grades 2-3 down to 23 students per class. Kate…understands that attracting the best educators leads to student achievement.”
Good luck in re-electing a governor that got you to the rank of 49th, Oregon. Maybe you’ll get up to 48th or 47th rank next year.
A recent story from Oregon Live outlines how great the state of Oregon is in educating the kids. From their story:
“Oregon’s graduation rate for the class of 2017 ranks No. 49 in the nation, the federal government announced Thursday. Oregon’s rate — 77 percent — was the lowest of any state except New Mexico, where the rate was a paltry 71 percent.
Nevada, which had previously trailed Oregon, leap-frogged ahead and achieved an 81 percent on-time graduation rate, the U.S. Department of Education said.
Nevada’s big increase occurred after the state dropped its longstanding requirement that students pass exams on reading, writing, math and science to get a diploma. Oregon does not require students to pass such exams to graduate.
The new federal report does not indicate how Oregon’s most current graduation rate — 79 percent for the class of 2018 — compares to other states’.
It was a coincidence that the National Center for Education Statistics announced the state-by-state rates and new U.S. average graduation rate — 84.6 percent — for the class of 2017 on the same day that Oregon officials announced the state’s graduation rate for the class of 2018.
State officials crowed about the improvement Oregon schools brought about from 2017 to 2018, with increases of 2 percentage points or more for Latino, Native American and white students, for low-income students and for girls and for boys.
The news was not as bright in the latest federal report for the class of 2017. The national graduation rate increased just 0.5 percentage points, the most tepid improvement since 2011. Five states achieved graduation rates of at least 90 percent, led by Iowa and New Jersey at 91 percent.”
DCG