let's look at some numbers...

The Chalkboard Project is the first collaboration by Foundations for a Better Oregon, which is five Oregon charitable foundations brought together by a common goal — a better state for all of us to live in.



The Collins Foundation, The Ford Family Foundation, JELD-WEN Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, & The Oregon Community Foundation



Let me call your attention to data from an April 2004 survey of Oregonians - some key points:

80% of Oregonians feel the state's K-12 public education system should be the very best, or among the very best in the nation.

45% felt Oregon's K-12 public schools were doing an OK (21%) somewhat bad (16%) or very bad (8%) job; while 36% said somewhat good, and 9% said very good.

61% felt Oregon needs a group of independent, non-partisan organizations to convene to improve the state's K-12 public education system.

69% of Oregonians said the ability to do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division should be a requirement for graduation. 63% said strong reading, writing and speaking skills should also be a requirement for graduation.

Oregonians felt the top two obstacles for public school success were "lack of direct parental support" (83% combined very big and big ratings) and "lack of stable and adequate funding" (82% combined very big and big ratings).

1 in 3 Oregonians said they would get involved in an independent, non-partisan effort to improve the state's K-12 public education system.

So thing #1 on that list that caught my eye, over 30% don't think basic math skills are needed to graduate and nearly 40% think language skills aren't needed, either.



Um...



?!?!?!?!?!?!



Also key on the list is the rating of the two obstacles. So if 82% agree that schools are being hampered by the funding situation and 80% feel we could have the best schools in the nation, why has it taken the legislature over a dozen years to accomplish nothing substantive to address the funding situation in the aftermath of the Measure 5 passage?! It's not like the political support wouldn't be there for you if you would show some LEADERSHIP on the matter...



Grrr...