Report Suggests Oregon Should Spend More on Education

Researchers advised that the model take more outcomes into account when projecting costs.

A rally for teachers outside Portland Public Schools headquarters in 2023. (Brian Brose)
By Joanna Hou

In 2024, Oregon Senate Bill 1552 asked for a review and evaluation of the Quality Education Model.

The QEM, which projects the cost to adequately educate students statewide, has long been cited by school funding advocates as evidence the state is underfunding education. In recent years, the model has faced increased scrutiny, which helped prompt the reevaluation.

The state-commissioned report by the American Institutes for Research, completed this month, concludes that the QEM methodology is sound. But researchers suggested the model take more outcomes into account when projecting costs.

Currently, the QEM hinges on achieving just one outcome—a 90% graduation rate for Oregon students. (The class of 2024 reported an 81.8% graduation rate.) “Expanding the goals to include a broader conceptualization of adequacy would make the cost estimates more meaningful and relevant to policy,” the report reads.

But that comes with a bigger price tag.

In 2022–23, Oregon would have had to make up a funding gap of $2.8 billion to catch up to AIR’s numbers. That’s about $1.87 billion more than what the QEM would have asked for: $935 million for that year.

As WW has previously reported (“Money for Nothing,” Feb. 5), increased education spending over the past decade has not improved student outcomes.

The Senate Committee on Education is expected to delve into the new report Feb. 26.

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