Governor's Recommended Budget for 2021-23 Charts a Bold Path Forward

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.