| Remarks by Governor Kulongoski |
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| November 3, 2005 |
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Gates Foundation Grant
Thank you, Jill, Superintendent Phillips, Mayor Potter and all of you for joining us today for this announcement. And thank you to the Gates Foundation and The Meyer Memorial Trust for seeing the value in investing in Oregon’s education enterprise and Oregon’s future.
I also want to recognize Superintendent Susan Castillo for her leadership on the education enterprise and for helping me work to bridge the gaps between our preK-12, community colleges, four-year institutions and workforce training programs throughout the state.
Susan shares my vision for a seamless education system that ensures all students are prepared for first grade ready to learn – and complete high school ready for higher education, the workplace and citizenry.
While I’m speaking last at this event, I’m here to tell you that this is just the beginning of great things to come – not only in Portland – but throughout Oregon.
I was actually in D.C. with Bill Gates at the National Governor’s Association Summit on High Schools last spring. And it was a result of that summit that this opportunity was presented to Oregon.
We actually submitted an application for a grant through the NGA to accelerate our efforts at the state level to ensure when our students graduate high school that their diploma is a meaningful steppingstone to endless opportunities in the 21st century.
In the end, however, it was the Gates Foundation that took notice of Oregon’s vision for an education enterprise that makes learning relevant for the students in our classrooms to the workforce that they will one day enter.
With this grant, we will be able to accelerate our efforts on work we’re already doing through the joint boards of education – that’s k-12, community colleges and the board of higher education – on four specific areas:
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High school graduation/diploma requirements;
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Systems alignment and integration;
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P-20 budget and system performance measures; and
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Communication.
The work we are doing at the state level along with the efforts of Portland Public Schools and all of Oregon’s education community is key – not only to the quality of education we provide our children – but growing Oregon’s economy, providing family wage jobs and maintaining Oregon’s quality of life.
When I talk to business owners about expanding here or re-locating to Oregon, I get the same question over and over. It is not about tax breaks or regulations – it is about whether we have a skilled workforce that can compete in a global economy.
This grant is critical to our work to ensure that we can always answer, “Yes.”
With this grant, we will align the curriculum, assessments and budgets to ensure that standards are increased across the board.
When we raise the bar for our high school students – as this grant will help us do – we must be sure that we keep those well-educated student in our state. They will be the backbone of our workforce in the future and, without them, we are unable to attract family wage jobs.
And make no mistake we all know that we must continue to work toward stable and adequate funding for our schools – all of our schools. We cannot do that without revenue – revenue that is created by getting Oregonians back to work.
We are on the right course.
Unemployment is down. Hunger is down. The number of Oregonians on payrolls is up.
Now, with the help of this grant, we need to be sure that we continue to build the kind of workforce that keeps us moving in the right direction. That starts by raising the bar for all Oregon students.
Again, I would like to extend my thanks to the Gates Foundation and the Meyer Memorial Trust for their generosity and their partnership with Oregon schoolchildren.
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