Gov. Brown's plan to protect schools from pension costs likely falls short

Much of the intrigue in this year’s legislative session centers around lawmakers’ push to raise corporate taxes by $2 billion to better fund Oregon’s struggling K-12 schools.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Gov. Kate Brown is aggressively shaking the sofa cushions of state government in a companion effort to protect that investment from being spent on school districts’ increasing pension costs.

It’s a desperate attempt to take action that everyone agrees is needed. But it appears that for all of Brown’s efforts, she’ll come up short -- an illustration of the sheer size of the pension problem and the paucity of available revenue streams to address it.

The stark reality behind the governor’s push is that Oregon won’t make much headway on education if it plows a big chunk of new money into schools only to see most of it disappear into the pension system, which is exactly what could happen over the next decade as pension cost increases continue unabated.

Read more: https://expo.oregonlive.com/news/g66l-2019/04/ea9098f5da8970/gov-browns-plan-to-protect-schools-from-pension-costs-likely-falls-short-.html