Former Gov. John Kitzhaber, a Democrat, is loudly breaking with many members of his party as Oregon voters begin returning their ballots for the Nov. 8 general election.
Kitzhaber took to Facebook to explain why he's voting against Measure 97, the gross receipts tax on large corporations that will raise $3 billion a year in new tax revenues if approved. The measure, placed on the ballot by the union-backed advocacy group Our Oregon, is a top Democratic priority this year.
Kitzhaber said that simply increasing funding without first determining whether current programs are working is a bad idea. "The ballot measure is based on the assumption that all we need to get better outcomes is more money to fund existing programs," Kitzhaber wrote. "That is clearly not the case in our health care system, or in our system of public education."
The Oregonian first reported Kitzhaber's Facebook posting, which amplified earlier doubts he'd expressed on Measure 97.
Kitzhaber resigned on Feb. 18, 2015, a little more than a month into his fourth term as governor. Emails showed that one of his top priorities in what would have been his final term was to address what he considered a fundamental disconnect: the Legislature sets the K-12 budget but Oregon's 197 school districts negotiate teacher contracts locally, often without knowing how much money will be available.
"The sheer magnitude of the new revenue being proposed (a thirty-one percent increase in the general fund) will eliminate any motivation for fixing the "education funding disconnect," created by Ballot Measures 5 and 50 (passed in 1990 and 1997 respectively), which regularly results in unsustainable contracts for existing school employees with long-term costs that exceed state revenue growth," Kitzhaber wrote in a Facebook post. "This, in turn, has led to a perpetual "funding crisis," in which, no matter how much we add to the State School Fund, we are unable to see smaller class sizes or longer school years; or to improve our educational outcomes. This problem–which will not be fixed by Ballot Measure 97—is discussed in detail on my website."
Willamette Week