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News Release

Contact:    Robin Maxey                                                                  April 12, 2011

                   (503) 986-1605   

                   robin.maxey@state.or.us                                                             

Senate OKs Budget For Schools

Annual Sessions Creates Opportunity for Adjustments in 2012

(SALEM) – With a unanimous vote today, Oregon Senators gave approval to a $5.7 billion budget for K-12 schools for the 2011-13 biennium.

The appropriation to the State School Fund provides essentially the same level of funding for the next two years as Oregon public schools will receive in the current biennium.

“What you are seeing is the effect of annual sessions. We know we will be back in February. We know that if the economy improves we can boost school funding in 2012,” said Senate President Peter Courtney. “For now, we can work with the revenue we have available and provide certainty and stability for local school boards that are making plans for the coming year.”

The $5.7 billion K-12 budget taps $100 million from the Education Stability Fund and draws additional money from the Common School Fund. It represents a $146 million increase over what was proposed in the Governor’s Recommended Budget.

“These are still very tough times. We simply don’t have enough resources to fund critical state services as much as we would like,” said Senator Richard Devlin (D-Tualatin), Co-Chair of the Ways and Means Committee. “This allocation of $5.7 billion will give school districts at least as much as they had last biennium. We know this isn’t enough to fend off cuts that will impact classrooms, but this level of funding is remarkable in a time of unprecedented budget reductions.”

In stark contrast to the budget stalemate that brought the nation to the brink of a federal government shutdown last week, the Oregon Senate’s timely action Tuesday comes in the first half of the 2011 session.

“The nature of today’s strong bipartisan vote is significant,” Courtney said. “We found a way in these tough economic times – tough political and tough partisan times – to come together for Oregon and her children. We will see in the coming weeks if this vote sets a tone for the other difficult budget decisions we will face.”

Senate Bills 5552 and 5553 now go to the House of Representatives where a vote is expected as early as Wednesday.