Priority: Budget
A Plan to Rebuild and Invest in Oregon
Vision
An Oregon where our children are ready to learn before they get to school; where they have the resources and attention to learn and our teachers have the time and support to teach; where drop-out rates are falling and graduation rates are rising; and where the average per capita income exceeds the national average in every region of our state.
Where We Are Now
Oregon has had double-digit unemployment for more than two years. As the number of unemployed rose between 2008 and 2010, we saw our state's revenue shrink while the need for critical state services, like the Oregon Health Plan and food stamps, has risen dramatically.
While employment numbers are improving, we will continue to face the problem of shrinking public resources in the face of increasing demand for public services. For starters, the per capita income of those Oregonians who are working has been eroding for the past decade. Then there's the services side: our population is aging and will need more and more assistance; our health care costs are growing at an unsustainable double-digit rate; and we are addressing problems like substance abuse and crime after they have developed instead of having systems in place to prevent them from happening in the first place.
How We'll Get There
The Governor's 2011-2013 balanced budget proposal marks the first step in shifting state investment from addressing problems after they have developed to preventing them in the first place. It funds proven job creation programs to get Oregonians back to work in the short term and supports early childhood investment as the foundational element to achieving long-term education and economic objectives for Oregon.
The Governor sees the current budget as the foundation on which we will rebuild Oregon. By focusing on job creation while transforming our education and health care systems, we can provide cost-effective services on the front-end, avoiding problems before they happen.
