Governor's Recommended Budget for 2021-23 Charts a Bold Path Forward
Gov. Kate Brown's proposed budget reckons with COVID-19 and systemic racism by investing essential supports for historically underserved children and families.
Foundations for a Better Oregon applauds the Governor’s Recommended Budget for 2021-23 for reckoning with both the immediate impacts of COVID-19 and Oregon’s long legacy of systemic racism by investing in essential supports for historically underserved students. In this Budget, Gov. Kate Brown charts a bold path forward for Oregon children and families by fully funding the Student Success Act (SSA) at nearly $1.6 billion, making it the bedrock upon which Oregon can rebuild a more racially just public education system.
Keeping the SSA’s promise means more than dedicating funds to educational equity—it means ensuring historically underserved communities are meaningfully involved in deciding how those funds are spent. The Recommended Budget fully funds the SSA’s Student Investment Account, which empowers school districts and communities to work together to disrupt racial disparities and target resources toward early literacy, expanded learning opportunities, culturally sustaining practices, and supports for social, emotional and behavioral health. By also increasing investment in Oregon’s Statewide Equity Plans—including the African American/Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Latino/a/x Student Success Plans—this Recommended Budget affirms that public schools are strongest when they work in true partnership with students, families, and communities.
Oregon’s educators will also find promising investments in the Recommended Budget. To meet the urgency of the moment, the proposed $80 million for the Educator Advancement Council would expand anti-racism and anti-bias trainings, grow a more diverse and inclusive educator workforce, create an Indigenous Educator Institute, and bolster professional development around distance learning and ethnic studies.
We’re not the first to say that budgets are moral documents that reflect Oregon's values. But budgets are also visionary documents, a blueprint for the future we hope to create for all children. FBO thanks Gov. Brown for the vision she has laid out in her Recommended Budget for 2021-23, which was developed in partnership with the Governor’s Racial Justice Council. We look forward to working with community partners and state legislators to pass a state budget that advances the promise of the Student Success Act.
The short legislative session has ended with a failure to answer the calls of youth and community leaders to stand up for racial justice in public education.
New K-12 social studies standards can make learning more engaging, rigorous, and inclusive for all students. Now, the state must help schools prepare.
FBO and the Oregon Partners for Education Justice (OPEJ) are urging lawmakers to invest in professional development for ethnic studies in Oregon.
State lawmakers collaborated with the Oregon Partners for Education Justice to strengthen the Student Success Act and pass equity-driven policy for children.
Oregon must affirm that investment in educational equity is not a luxury or a supplement—it is essential.
Amid the backlash against critical race theory, we need to build shared vision for inclusive schools and learning.
Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest news, research, and more from Foundations for a Better Oregon.