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Oregon ranks among the most regressive states in education funding distribution between high- and low-poverty schools.
That finding, released in December in a report by the Education Law Center, is reverberating through Salem. The ELC analyzed the most recent available school funding data from the U.S. Census Bureau for the 2022–23 school year, finding that Oregon distributes 18% less money to high-poverty districts.
The average low-poverty district in the state receives $18,210 per pupil, and the average high poverty district $15,014. (That’s in contrast to a state like Utah, where high-poverty schools receive 60% more funding per pupil. The ELC defines a state as progressive if high-poverty districts receive at least 5% more funding than low-poverty ones.)
That 18% figure was enough for the ELC to label Oregon regressive and assign the state an F grade in funding distribution.
“We maintain that flat or regressive distribution patterns are unlikely to adequately support low-income students and certainly put high-poverty districts at a disadvantage,” the study says.
Two Oregon lawmakers, state Rep. Ricki Ruiz (D-Gresham) and state Sen. Janeen Sollman (D-Hillsboro), tried to tackle the distribution issue as part of Senate Bill 1555 in the latest short session. The bill, which sought a study to reevaluate how Oregon determines school funding, also aimed to unpack how poverty might affect a school district.
In a statement to WW, Ruiz said he plans to convene a work group ahead of the 2027 session to take a deeper look at the state’s education funding formula and make it more equitable.
There’s a growing body of research that “students in low-income communities continue to receive fewer resources despite increased overall education spending,” Ruiz says. “Our current funding distribution is not adequately meeting the needs of the students who need the most support.”
The issue has come up a number of times in Oregon over the past couple of years. Oregon Kids Read, an education advocacy group, mounted an effort in spring 2025 to direct early literacy dollars in the state to 42 of the state’s “most neglected” schools, all of which are Title I schools.
“Oregon leaders need to own this. For all their progressive talk, our state actively pursues a trickle-down education policy that subsidizes wealthier communities at the expense of our poorer ones,” says Angela Uherbelau, the advocacy group’s founder.
