Analysis/Issue Research
The state of Oregon has one of the worst public education in the nation. In 2011, only 67 percent of Oregon students graduated from high school within four years, and only 70 percent within five. Forty-seven other states rank higher than Oregon when it comes to graduation rates and Oregon ranks 43rd for overall performance. This lack of performance can be attributed to one main factor: school funding . School funding is comprised mostly from property taxes, and that’s put Oregon at a disadvantage due to the large amount of inequality in the state. Since school funding is tied to property taxes, wealthier communities are able to provide better services for their children, where children from poorer communities suffer. The other significant part of funding comes from income tax, where Oregon has derived 84% of their revenues the past two years. This makes the state more susceptible to economic recessions than states that rely on a combination of taxes, including sales tax. The state is facing a $1.7 billion budget shortfall to maintain current services and fund education ballot measures approved by voters. Adding any new programs costs even more. The deficit would have been wiped away had Oregonians passed corporate tax Measure 97, which failed in all but two counties.
The issue here is evident: fix Oregon’s failing school funding formula. 
Oregon’s current amount of spending per student via The Oregonian:
When pumped out via the formula, here is how much money schools received, on average, per student:
2009-10: $7,545
2010-11: $7,380
2011-12: $7,560
2012-13: $7,505
2013-14: $8,100
2014-15: $8,515
Today: Less Than $10,000
Structure and Responsibility
The goal for the Oregon School Funding Group is to establish a mandate upon the legislature of the state of Oregon to increase the total amount of funding that the Education system receives in order to improve the success of Oregon’s K-12 students. To have achieve this our organization is proposing a simple yet poignant program that would allow for the Oregon Education budget to increase by over 10 million dollars without extra strain upon the already impacted budget. This would be accomplished by a distribution of the new tax on marijuana that is projected to grant the state of Oregon an increased revenue of almost 42 million dollars. The revenue from this new tax has not been decided on how it would be used by the legislature of Oregon, and that is where our organization is to step in. This proposal would be to mandate that the legislature of Oregon to grant at minimum 25% of the revenue of the new tax on Marijuana for this upcoming year, as well as make education the recipient of at least 25% of the total revenue on the tax on Marijuana in future years. This would ensure that education would have a consistent improvement on total amount allotted to its budget without impacting the established balance that the legislature has created.
The reason why our organization is focusing on the Marijuana tax to increase school funding is for a straightforward reason. The tax is relatively knew and does not have strict stipulations for what the money would be used for. In the state of Oregon the two highest expenditures in the budget is the Department of Human Services and the Department of Education. However the Department of Education had its budget adjusted to be half supported by lottery funds and the other half to be supported by the general tax fund. This was done as a way to meet the budget shortfalls of the Department of Human Resources. This in our view is an unreliable source of income for the Department of Education, as the lottery funds have been known to fluctuate and be inconsistent to the overall budget. A solution to this need was the implementation of the tax on sales of Marijuana. of the Department of Education maintain its current balance and proportions of the current budget as they are, while being granted a consistent amount of money that would be allocated to the Department of Education through the available revenue from the tax on Marijuana.
The projected revenue of the tax on Marijuana is around 42 million dollars. And with the proposed 25% of funds made available to the Department of Education would make 10.5 million dollars available to the Department of Education budget. The money then would be distributed to the 36 counties of Oregon. And the counties would then make the funds available to the 220 districts in Oregon based off of a need basis, and proportional to the population of K-12 students that would be in that district. The money would be put into a discretionary fund that would be available for teachers and schools to be able to access in order to purchase supplies for the classroom. As well as have more funds available for schools to be able to upgrade and repair degrading infrastructure and hardware that would make Oregon schools a better learning environment. The funds would be available based upon a request by a school or a teacher. The request must be made in way that allows for proof of what the money is going to be used for. With quarterly reporting to Oregon State Board of Education for the assurance that the funds are being used appropriately. If funds are found to being misused the erring party would be brought before a review board of the Department of Education, with such the actions would be reviewed for any and all legal misconduct. With referral to the Department of Justice for any appropriate hearings needed as a result. The funds are to be made available to the youth of Oregon, and the funds should be used in a way that benefits them.