2013-15 Kitzhaber Budget Places Burden on Students

 

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber.

Photo by Jonathan Maus. [Creative Commons]

Guess what time it is? Yep, you guessed it; it is time for an update on Oregon’s very own Governor John Kitzhaber. So, what has he done now that has the media buzzing? Well, nothing more than “creating” jobs and raising tuition, of course!

Back in Nov. 30, 2012, Kitzhaber unveiled a new 2013-15 state budget that would allow schools to hire 500 more teachers, end furlough days for state workers, boost spending on at-risk children and families and still leave money on the table for emergencies. At first glance that doesn’t seem too bad, but in allowing all of this to happen, he wants to make controversial changes to public pensions and to prison sentences, as well as, ask lawmakers to make a legislature to extend a tax on hospitals.

According to Gail Rasmussen, head of the Oregon Education Association, the statewide teachers union, the school districts can’t rely on the proposed PERS changes and instead “leaves them facing another budget that won’t alleviate overcrowding and other “crisis-level” conditions.”

Kitzhaber is planning on saving more than $800 million with this new budget. Kitzhaber is hoping to limit cost-of-living increases to the first $24,000 income for Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) as well as eliminating certain tax benefits that out-of-state PERS receive. Kitzhaber expects any limit on cost-of-living increases to be challenged in court, but he said he expects to win.

Kitzhaber’s new budget plan will stall spending millions of dollars to build and operate new prions, due to the fact that he will be making dramatic changes to Oregon’s sentencing requirements. This part of the proposal is drawing controversy from the ire of law enforcement and victim groups.

Clackamas County District Attorney John Foote disagrees with Kitzhaber’s new budget proposal. “You’re not going to fix the state’s budget by whacking away at prisons,” said Foote.

Kitzhaber is also planning on filling “a big hole” in the Oregon Health Plan. He will be filling this hole by creating a tax on hospitals. Of course, hospitals said they are ok with the tax increase because they will end up getting most or all of it back in the form of higher Medicaid payments.

What is Kitzhaber’s reasoning behind this new budget? Well, he is under the assumption that these changes will allow Oregon to leave behind an era of short-term fixes and move toward a more reliable growth rate.

According to Kitzhaber, “The $16.5 billion general fund budget represents a 10 percent increase from the current two-year $15 billion budget. It carves out $8 billion for education, including $6.2 billion for K-12 schools. That’s an 8 percent increase from the current spending.”

But where does that leave the current college student?

It will raise tuition and eliminate services.

While on paper this budget shows a small increase over the course of two years, it is in fact distracting us from the bigger picture; higher tuition, lower quality services, and financial aid programs that will not cover most Oregon students in need.

The average Oregonian student leaves college with $25,000 in debt. Even though Kitzhaber has increased funding to the Oregon Opportunity Grant; eight out of ten qualified Oregon students don’t receive this grant, due to being ineligible for certain unknown reasons. The Governor’s budget does not fully fund support for universities and community colleges, which means tuition increases and employee and service are due to be cut. This will only continue to push low and middle income families out of higher education.

So, thanks, but no thanks, Governor Kitzhaber.