NEWS UPDATE FROM STATE REPRESENTATIVE DAVID GOMBERG: Snow Days Slow Us Down – But Not By Much!

Number of Days in School Year by State

All of that will cost money.

After a long period of disinvestment, Oregon has increased its spending on schools over the last decade, particularly after the passage of the Student Success Act and with federal pandemic relief funding. But that funding hasn’t meant a rise in reading and math skills as measured by standardized tests, particularly for Black and Latino students.

This year, there is a huge push to pump more money into Oregon schools, beyond the $11.3 billion proposed by Governor Kotek for the next two years. The aim is to stave off looming cuts as districts prepare to shed counselors, educational assistants, and librarians to reflect decreased student enrollment and rising labor costs.

At the same time, there is a call for more accountability in education spending.

Currently, the state allows each of its 197 school districts to decide how best to spend the bulk of their state funds, except for carve-outs on early literacy and career-technical education.

In 2022, auditors at the Secretary of State’s office released a “Systemic Risk Report” on schools. It warned in no uncertain terms that if Oregon continued failing to set clear goals for schools on student performance, the state was at risk not only of wasting taxpayer dollars but failing a generation of children. “There is a bigger sense right now than I have ever seen before about accountability and adding guardrails when it comes to renewing policies that cost money,” says Rep. Ricki Ruiz (D-Gresham), co-chair of the education budget subcommittee.

As the budget evolves this legislative session, we will be working to balance revenue, funding, and accountability. For me, that includes:

1. More Instructional Time: If kids are behind, give them more time to catch up. More school days, longer school days, extended academic years—whatever it takes to match high-performing states.
2. Crack Down on Absenteeism: School only works if students show up. Enforce attendance policies, hold parents accountable, and treat absenteeism like the crisis it is.
3. Redirect Funding to the Classroom: Prioritize teacher salaries, up-to-date materials, and student support services.
4. More Support for Special Needs Students: As the number of special education students, bilingual, and special needs increase, we need to provide them the support they deserve.
5. Attract (and Keep) Quality Teachers: Pay them well, cut the administrative busywork, and ensure they have actual support in the classroom. Teaching should feel like a calling, not a chore.

“Oregonians are doing better financially than most Americans, according to the 2025 Oregon Financial Wellness Scorecard. Median household income ($80,426) is up in Oregon and exceeds the national average. Income growth is outpacing inflation.

Yet nearly half of Oregonians cannot afford an emergency expense of more than $500, according to a survey Oregon State University researchers conducted…”

“The cost of the proposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China would increase costs to the typical American consumer by amounts ranging from $800 to $1,200 per year, according to independent economists. That unanticipated outlay is more than the funds half of Oregonians have available to pay for unexpected expenses.

At a time when the cost of living remains a major source of worry for Oregonians, this price hike is an unnecessary expense families cannot afford. While the administration has paused tariffs on Canada and Mexico, Oregon consumers should not have to worry about having to pay more for groceries, gas, clothes, cars and other items they use each day.”

The Treasurer continues, “I urge the White House to abandon its costly tariff plans, maintain the integrity of the federal payment system, and ensure the uninterrupted flow of funds to Oregon and other states”.

I was pleased the Capitol ultimately closed. The Legislature has a lot of work to do and this is a critical time with bills needing to get hearings scheduled before a deadline a few weeks away. We need all the time that we can get, but certainly, the safety of legislators and, more importantly, the public that we engage in this process is paramount.

We are one month into the 2025 session and both parties are working to advance their view of Oregon’s future. As I read my colleagues’ newsletters, I see many of them detailing caucus priorities. I’m going to do something unusual here and publish outlines from both the Democrats and Republicans.

Oregon House Democrats’ Agenda:

• Fighting for an Affordable Oregon: Lowering costs for housing, childcare, healthcare, and utilities while cracking down on corporate greed and price gouging.
• Making Government Work: Ensuring that state agencies deliver efficient, accountable services—from education and transportation to mental health care.
• Keeping Oregonians Safe: Addressing crime, homelessness, gun violence, and emergency preparedness, including wildfire prevention.
• Protecting Basic Rights & Freedoms: Defending reproductive rights, environmental protections, and inclusivity across our communities.
• Delivering a Roadmap Forward: Promoting clean energy, reducing emissions, and building a sustainable, vibrant future for Oregon.

Oregon House Republicans’ Agenda:

• Affordability: Oregonians should be able to afford to live here. Taxes are too high. We want you and your family to keep more of what you make by cutting your income taxes and opposing new taxes and regulations that increase the cost of living.
• Housing: Oregonians should be able to afford to buy or rent a home in the neighborhood they want to live in. While the governor wants to build more expensive, government-funded housing with taxpayer dollars, we want the government to get out of the way, lower property taxes, and eliminate heavy-handed regulations that are keeping you from buying a home.
• Education: Every Oregon child deserves a quality education that fits their and their families’ needs. Education should be centered around what the student needs to thrive and be successful. We will work to dramatically reform public education to provide more options and give control back to families to choose the school that is best for them.
• Homelessness: Oregonians deserve to live in safe, drug-free neighborhoods. Homelessness should be rare and temporary, not chronic and permanent. We want to end the homelessness crisis and restore safe and livable communities by repealing laws that allow homeless people to camp in our parks and on our sidewalks.

It seems everyone is interested in affordability, housing, schools, and government efficiency. But of course, they have different ideas on what we need to do. I encourage you to check the links for more detail.

Columnist Dick Hughes recently wrote a piece on how to effectively engage with the legislature. Take three minutes and read it to the end.

If your answer comes to more than $1 million for your home, property, investments, small business, family farm and personal goods, then you may well be subject to Oregon’s estate tax.

That $1 million threshold is the lowest in the nation. And more to the point, it has not changed in 20 years.

As I often say, a million dollars isn’t what it used to be. As home values and inflation balloon, more residents’ estates exceed that amount. And the State has vastly benefited, with revenues more than tripling in the past decade of available data.

Our $1 million threshold is the lowest of the 12 states that levy such a tax. Rhode Island has the next lowest threshold at $1.77 million, then Washington at about $2.2 million, all the way on up to Connecticut at $13.6 million, according to the financial publication, Kiplinger. A federal estate tax applies to estates worth nearly $14 million or more.

Oregon’s estate tax has been under discussion this week with potential reforms proposed to ensure fairness and economic stability for families and businesses across our state. Hearings in the Senate include proposals to raise the threshold to over $13 million. Hearings in the House considered a bill to raise the threshold to $7 million.

If this subject intrigues or affects you, I urge you to watch the hearings linked above and to submit your own comments.

I support some kind of change and am waiting to see how these proposals evolve. Other ideas include changing Oregon’s estate tax law but raising the point at which it starts to $2 million or $3 million, not $7 million. They also supported adjusting the threshold each year based on inflation.

Opponents dispute the need for a change. Many say it will only exacerbate the exclusivity of inter-generational wealth and leave the state in a budget predicament over lost revenue.

Local tribes and nonprofits have received a grant to lead the planning effort to reintroduce these endearing mammals. Sea otters are considered a keystone species crucial to restoring the state’s dwindling underwater kelp forests and controlling invasive sea urchin populations.

Kelp forests are an important component of nearshore ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. They serve as the habitat and hunting ground for countless marine species all from tiny Dungeness crabs to large-feeding gray whales. They also help stabilize shorelines from the effects of erosion.

A report from the Oregon Kelp Alliance (ORKA) found that roughly 70% of our kelp forests, or about 900 acres, have disappeared in a ten year period. ORKA attributes the die-off primarily to increased populations of purple sea urchins, which have abounded by 10,000% in some places in Oregon. A purple sea urchin’s favorite food is kelp and as a result they’ve overgrazed our underwater forests up and down the coast. The primary predators of purple sea urchins, sunflower sea stars and sea otters, are both absent in Oregon.

Sea otters were once abundant on the West Coast. But the animals were hunted to extinction during the fur trade era. The last known Oregon sea otter was shot in 1906 at Otter Rock. Only a few remnant populations remained in Alaska and California.

Oregon now has sea otters only at the Oregon Zoo and the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Here are a few things you “otter” know about these animals:

• The sea otter is considered to have the densest coat of any mammal, with over 100,000 hairs per square centimeter. Its soft, glossy pelt made it the most valuable fur on the world market during the height of the Northwest fur trade.
• Sea otters are the only non-primate mammals known to use tools. They often use rocks to break open prey with hard shells or exoskeletons.
• Sea otters have loose folds of skin under their armpits where they store tools and prey while diving.
• To keep from drifting away while sleeping, sea otters will sometimes wrap themselves in kelp, or hold hands with adjacent otters.

Because their diets include crabs, mussels and clams, Oregon’s shellfish industry has spoken out vehemently against bringing sea otters back to the state.

To learn more about the effort to restore Oegon’s sea otter population, join the Elakha Alliance at the Lincoln City Cultural Center this Thursday evening for a free presentation.

Among my many visitors in the Capitol this week were librarians from around the District. Last year, the Library Association asked us to autograph a book and designate a library to donate it to. “How am I supposed to choose my favorite library??” I asked. “I have eight of them!!”

So this year, they brought me a stack of books to autograph…

Another highlight of the week was the Arts Caucus kickoff. Arts and culture spaces are key to local economies and quality of life in small and large cities across Oregon. Research for fiscal year 2022 shows arts and culture generated $50 million of local spending, accounted for 610 jobs, and had attendance totaling 667,000 people – 67 percent of whom lived locally.

Earlier today, Monday, I testified in support of four bills to support the Oregon Arts Commission, fund our large centers like the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the High Desert Museum, and the Columbia River Maritime Museum, and expand the Film & TV Tax Credit.

As always, if there are bills of interest or concern, I urge you to track them and provide written testimony or drive over and visit your Capitol. I’ll be here, working for you as the session evolves.

phone: 503-986-1410

address: 900 Court St NE, H-480, Salem, OR, 97301

website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/gomberg