Tough times are ahead for Oregon’s education system.

On top of district-level funding challenges brought on by declining school enrollment and rising costs, Oregon’s three largest state education agencies are looking at millions of dollars in potential cuts due to a loss in federal funding.

That’s why the Oregon Legislature gave the agencies an assignment: draw out two budget scenarios, one for a cut of 2.5% and another for 5%.

Oregon’s Department of Early Learning and Care, Department of Education and Higher Education Coordinating Commission did their homework, but their scenarios paint a dire picture of what the state’s education system might look like starting next year.

On Tuesday, during an informational meeting with the Joint Ways and Means Subcommittee on Education, the heads of those agencies shared their scenarios and answered questions from legislators.

“What are the least worst options?” asked Wendy Gibson from Oregon’s Legislative Fiscal Office.

Nothing is decided, and final decisions won’t be made for several months. But Tuesday’s presentations provided a first look at the tough financial choices facing education leaders.

On Wednesday, state officials will be watching for the state’s economic revenue forecast, and another forecast in February will shed even more light on Oregon’s economic future.

“This is just the first day, the first conversation, first opportunity to talk,” said Rep. Susan McClain (D-Hillsboro).

Early learning scenario reduces programs and services, retains licensing

2.5% of budget: $30.1 million

5% of budget: $60.1 million

Licensing facilities is one of the most important things the Department of Early Learning and Care does, and it will remain intact despite any cuts.

“Less licensing equals less availability of child care, and that’s something we’re trying to center in this exercise,” DELC Deputy Director of Operations Cooper Brown said.

“If we mess with licensing, we anticipate it’ll be harder to rebuild some of those functions moving forward, assuming funding rebounds.”

More than 90% of the DELC’s budget is grant-in-aid, meaning funds go from the agency to other organizations that then provide resources and programming.

So, cutting even 5% of the department’s budget means making reductions to programs that help pay for childcare, such as Preschool Promise and Oregon Prenatal to Kindergarten.

“A five percent level of reductions would have impacts, it’ll have impacts to children, it’ll have impacts to providers, it’ll have impacts to families,” Brown said.

Other affected programs would result in less coaching and professional learning for childcare staff, fewer wraparound services such as mental health support for parents, and ultimately, program closures.

“We do anticipate that reductions in OPK [Oregon Prenatal to Kindergarten], Preschool Promise, and ERDC [Employment Related Day Care] in particular will lead to broader program closures, especially in rural areas,” Brown said, noting that some childcare providers depend heavily on families who pay for care using state subsidies.

K-12 proposal avoids cutting core instruction, could mean the end of statewide educator development program

2.5% of budget: $144 Million

5% of budget: $739.2 Million

Education makes up the largest chunk of the state’s general fund, and the majority of that goes directly to public schools through the State School Fund.

But several different funds operate Oregon’s education department, including funds from the state’s Corporate Activity Tax and lottery funds.

Like the other agencies, the Oregon Department of Education wants to protect some programs from any cuts. These include subsidized meals, summer learning programs, and grants to support literacy, attendance and rural technical support.

But cuts have to come from somewhere.

ODE’s proposal includes cutting the second year of funding for Future Farmers of America and grants to support science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM programs.

“The programs listed … fall primarily in the category of enhancement dollars, investments that support innovation, expansion, or additional opportunities for students beyond the core instructional and operational backbone,” ODE director Charlene Williams said. “None of these options represents a judgment about the program’s worth; they simply illustrate what meeting a 2.5% target would require.”

Other reductions include Oregon’s Every Day Matters campaign to increase attendance, which could undermine efforts to confront the state’s ongoing problem with chronic absenteeism.

The state’s plan would partially reduce the program, but not end it completely.

The biggest “cost-saving” in ODE’s plan is the proposal to eliminate the state’s Educator Advancement Council, a professional development arm of ODE that funds Grow-Your-Own programs and other educator support programs.

Sen. Janeen Sollman (D-Forest Grove) asked what would happen if the EAC went away.

“If that whole program goes away - staffing, grant-in-aid, etc. – we don’t have an immediate plan to fill that gap,” Williams said. “There are potentially areas where we can look at what [education service districts] are doing and how to strengthen and partner some of those support services.”

“Part of the goal was to diversify the educator workforce,” Williams said. “We won’t necessarily have the capacity or means to do that anymore.”

Sollman emphasized that even though this is just the first conversation, it’s going to be a tough few months.

“All these discussions are not easy. We are facing this economic - and I’m going to add - humanitarian crisis, that we are also, in our schools, are really on the frontline of that,” Sollman said. “I just want to share the heaviness of all of this, the decisions ahead.”

Public universities, community colleges bear brunt of higher education cuts

2.5% of budget: $75.6 million

5% of budget: $151.2 million

A 5% cut to the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission budget would harm Oregon’s current and future college students, HECC Executive Director Ben Cannon wrote in a letter to lawmakers earlier this month.

HECC’s budget for the current biennium is $4.4 billion, with the vast majority of that funding going straight to higher education institutions, student financial aid programs and workforce initiatives. The agency’s proposed cuts, at the highest level, amount to more than $151 million.

The Higher Ed Commission’s highest priority for funding is the state’s largest need-based financial aid program, the Oregon Opportunity Grant. That aid program, as well as the Oregon Tribal Student Grant, are both shielded from cuts in HECC’s proposal.

“Our primary and overriding criterion was, ‘How do we minimize the impact to students from any reductions that the legislature may take?’” Cannon said at Tuesday’s legislative committee hearing.

But not touching those aid programs comes at a cost: nearly two-thirds of HECC’s proposed cuts fall squarely on the shoulders of Oregon’s public colleges and universities.

A rollback of state support for these institutions would make existing financial challenges, like declining student enrollment and interrupted federal funding, even worse.

Cannon warned lawmakers that if the legislature goes through with a 5% cut, students and colleges would begin to feel the impact starting in fall 2026.

“It’s very likely to show up in the form of higher tuition for students and, frankly, the loss of jobs at places where students are in need the most,” Cannon said.

HECC’s report states that universities “anticipate raising tuition with at least a 6.9% tuition increase for resident students.”

Community colleges anticipate tuition or fee increases of 10% or more.

Also on the chopping block is Oregon Promise, a grant program that helps recent high school graduates in Oregon cover the cost of tuition at any state community college.

The program was originally conceived as a way to make a community college education free for any Oregonian, regardless of need.

But Cannon noted that the legislature has failed to consistently fully fund the grant.

“If this reduction were to be sustained, we wouldn’t be making any new awards in the coming academic year,” Cannon said. “So that promise would truly be hollow.”

Additional HECC proposed cuts impact various workforce and job training initiatives, such as state support for the Oregon Health and Science University and programs housed under Oregon State University’s Extension Service - including funding for Outdoor School.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/11/18/oregon-legislators-hear-least-worst-options-for-possible-education-agency-cuts/