Public Education

Wallowa High School building made of red brick — Wallowa High School in Wallowa. (Oregon State Archives Photo)

Important Links

Overview

Oregon has 197 public school districts, operating a total of 1,274 public schools. For the school year 2020-2021, the teaching staff working in Oregon’s public schools numbered the equivalent of 30,284 full-time positions. The median class size in Oregon is 18.

Public schools enrolled 571,018 students from kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12), of which:

39.6% of students were students of color (national average: 54.3%);
14.2% of students were in Special Education (national average: 11.5%);
3.15% of Oregon students were experiencing houselessness down from 3.63% in 2019-2020 (national average 2.5%); and almost 10% of students were English Language Learners (national average: 10.4%, 2019–2020 data).

Oregon’s combined state and local share of the K–12 education budget was $7.4 billion for the year ending June 30, 2021.

A pie chart displaying the breakdown of funds into four categories. The largest segment is General Fund at 62%, followed by Other Funds at 20%, Federal Funds at 14%, and the smallest segment is Lottery Funds at 4%. — Source: Legislative Fiscal Office

Source: Department of Administrative Services, Chief Financial Office

Sources:

Oregon Department of Education, Oregon Statewide Report Card, 2020-2021;

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2020–2021. The exception is for English Language Learners, where the latest data are for 2019–2020;
National Center for Homeless Education, Student Homeless in America: School Years 2017-2018 to 2019-2020, where the latest data are for 2019-2020

Chief Education Office

The office was created in 2015 for the purpose of building a seamless system of education from birth to college and career. The office directs and coordinates multi-agency planning and stakeholder convening to eliminate barriers impeding student success and works to increase educational equity and opportunity for all students and education settings.

The office is focused on ensuring every student in the state graduates from high school, and Oregon reaches its “40-40-20” goal of 40% of students completing a two-year degree, 40% completing a four-year degree and 20% graduating from high school career ready. These goals reflect a shared commitment by the state and education groups to create the conditions for students to pursue an education and career path meaningful to them. A target date of 2025 has been set for reaching the “40-40-20” goal.

State Board of Education

The board sets educational policies and standards for Oregon’s public school districts and educational service districts, providing leadership and vision by enacting equitable policies and promoting educational practices that help students achieve success in school and life.

The board has seven members appointed to four-year terms by the governor. Board members are: Guadalupe Martinez Zapata, Chair (2024); Jennifer Scurlock, Vice-Chair (2024); Kimberly Howard Wade (2024); Jerome Colonna (2022); George Russell (2024); Bridgett Wheeler (2024); one seat is vacant.

Department of Education

The governor acts as the superintendent of schools. The governor has authority to appoint a deputy superintendent of public instruction to run the Oregon Department of Education (ODE).

ODE oversees Oregon’s public K–12 education system and encompasses the Early Learning Division, Youth Development Division, Oregon School for the Deaf and other programs.

For more information, see ODE’s entry in the Executive section.

Education Funding

Money to support public education in grades K–12 comes from state income taxes, the lottery fund, local revenues primarily consisting of property taxes, and federal funds. Historically, the largest source of funding had been local property taxes, but this changed dramatically in 1990 when voters passed Measure 5, which lowered the amount of property taxes dedicated to schools. By the 1995–1996 school year, local property taxes for education were limited to $5 per every $1,000 of a property’s assessed real market value. In 1997, voters passed Measure 50, which further limited local property taxes for schools by placing restrictions on assessed valuation of property and property tax rates. The effect of these measures was to shift the bulk of public school funding from local property taxes to Oregon’s General Fund, which comes from state income taxes.

2023-2025 general fund and lottery funds chart shows K-12 education 29%, Other education 11%, Human Services 34%, Public Safety Judicial 15 %, all other programs 11%

Oregon uses a formula to provide financial equity among school districts. Each school district receives (in combined state and local funds) an allocation per student, plus an additional amount for each student enrolled in more costly programs such as Special Education or English Language Learners.

The 2021-2023 legislatively adopted General Fund and Lottery Funds budget for the Education program area is $12.624 billion. This was an increase of $1.1 billion (or 9.9%) from the 2019–2021 legislatively approved budget.