Oregon GOP Chair Says Brown Has Flunked, Cites Neglect of PERS Crisis, Failure to Lead
Wilsonville, OR – As GOP Gubernatorial Nominee Knute Buehler outlines a detailed and bold plan to fix Oregon schools, it’s important to remember that Democrat Governor Kate Brown has failed to improve education in the state, despite record tax revenue and repeated promises.
Under Kate Brown, Oregon’s graduation rate remains the third worst in the entire nation. KGW 8 explains, “Education advocates say many factors contribute to the state’s low graduation rate, including high class sizes, early state times, absenteeism, poverty and budget deficits.” Instead of taking personal responsibility, Brown has blamed her handpicked state schools chief.
Despite record tax revenues and double-digit state budget increases, Brown has actually made the classroom funding crisis worse by refusing to address PERS Reform and simply letting pension payments continue to siphon money from classrooms, forcing districts to lay off teachers.
“With Oregon’s schools already rated among the worst in the country due to neglect by the state government,” stated Oregon GOP Chairman Bill Currier. “Kate Brown has made no serious attempt to solve our state’s education problems while pushing proposals that would actually make it worse. Brown’s education failure has left an indelible scar on her record as Governor.”
While Kate Brown focuses on making herself a national left-wing celebrity, she leaves Oregon schoolchildren behind to languish in a floundering school system.
“Oregonians deserve a governor who will prioritize improving education outcomes for our state’s young people,” added Currier. “Kate Brown has flunked as the state’s education leader. It’s time to put her failure behind us and move on.”
“Knute Buehler will lead on education to reverse Kate Brown’s biggest failure. He has proposed a detailed, bold plan to improve our schools, put more money into classrooms and fix the PERS crisis – towards an ambitious goal of moving Oregon from the bottom five to the top five nationally in five years. Now that’s the kind of leadership Oregonians are looking for this November.”
The Oregon Republican Party is the state’s arm of the Republican National Committee. Its Chairman and officers are dedicated to promoting Republican principles within the state of Oregon and to improving the lives and livelihoods of Oregon’s working families through economic freedom and equal protection under the law.
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