Oregon's new normal: School spending consistently trails the national average. Oregon has firmly established itself as a state that spends 7 percent less per student in public schools than the nation as a whole, according to federal data released last week.
Nationally, U.S. public schools spent $10,500 per student in 2008-09, the most recent year for which statistics have been nailed down for every school district. In Oregon, schools spent $9,800. Oregon's pattern of spending 93 cents for every $1 spent nationally has become entrenched since 2002-03, when the Legislature slashed school funding as the economy tanked, prompting Hillsboro to lop 17 days off the school year. Oregon has company in its below-national-average status. The neighboring states of Washington and California never spent more than 98 percent of the national average during the past decade. OSPIRG: Help Oregon stand up to Regence's 22% health care rate hike.
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