PORTLAND, Oregon — For months, parents and educators have raised concerns about school funding throughout Oregon.
"Oregon students aren't being served to the level that they need and deserve," said Elizabeth Doerr, a Portland Public Schools parent.
“Our students keep showing up with needs that are so unmet," said Lindsay Ray, the Beaverton teachers union president.
Even Oregon's governor seems to agree.
"The way we fund K-12 education hasn't really changed in 30 years," Gov. Tina Kotek said.
Most money funneled from the state to school districts is drawn from income taxes, corporate taxes and the state lottery. That creates the state school fund, though, that fund isn't always stable.
"The state school fund is potentially somewhat volatile, which can be a problem," said Sen. Michael Dembrow.
Some municipalities have local levies as well. In Portland Public Schools, Oregon’s biggest school district, taxpayers generate an additional $100 million every year. State funding all adds up to more than $12 billion over two years.
"At the end of the day, the legislature did have the resources to be able to put a record amount of money into the state school fund," Dembrow said.
Still, school advocates said they need more funding.
"When you don't have fully funded schools, it's nearly impossible to get to a point where all kids get what they need to succeed," Doerr said.
Oregon uses a formula to fund education. The state allocates money for each student, plus an additional amount for kids enrolled in more expensive programs like special education courses. That funding plays a big impact for districts like Salem-Keizer, the second biggest school district in the state.
Salem-Keizer receives more than $100 million more than Portland Public Schools of state funding.
Oregon also calculates the costs of maintaining services every two years, through something called the current service level. Though there’s debate, both at the capitol and in schools, whether the current service level is accurate.
"That's something that is unclear,” Dembrow said. “To be honest."
"The evidence shows that we need predictability and sustainability if we're going to have high quality outcomes for our students," Kotek said.
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Last November, during a nearly month-long Portland teacher strike, educators and district officials both called on the state government for more funding.
"Portland communities won't settle for less than great public schools for all," Portland teachers union president Angela Bonilla said at a rally.
"I hope every single one of them who asked me to give teachers everything they were asking for, I hope they focus that same level of energy on Salem," PPS board member Andrew Scott said at the time.
Soon after the strike, other school districts also made similar calls on the capitol.
"Oregon's funding formula is collapsing under the weight of the real costs of paying our staff what they deserve, and providing the schools or students and community needs," said Salem-Keizer Superintendent Andrea-Castañeda.
For years, the Quality Education Commission, a volunteer group, has backed that opinion up. In the most recent report, it says Oregon schools need $13.5 billion from 2025-27 to give all students a quality education.
"It's a situation where we need to put everything on the table," said Mike Westling, a Portland Public Schools parent.
Without the funding, teachers said they’re dealing with larger class sizes and are forced to spend their own money on resources like pencils and calculators.
"I'm counting on our legislators to find that money, because I think that money is there," Ray said.
Though Dembrow said it’s unclear where more funding would come from.
"So, we have a lot of work ahead of us in the 2025 session," Kotek said.