Superb Oregonian article today on education $$$

Tax money to operate Oregon public schools will rise by roughly $1 billion the next two years, but a review of district budgets for the fall shows most parents will see only small improvements in their children’s schools.

Combining state and local taxes, Oregon schools will have 14 percent more money to spend in the next two years. They’ll get more than $9,200 per student — most of it from a record $6.245 billion in state school aid approved by the Legislature and expected to be signed into law this week by Gov. Ted Kulongoski. …

But increased costs — particularly for health care and salaries — will gobble just over half of the new money in a state where both school employee benefits and class sizes remain among the highest in the nation. Most of the new money comes with little accountability on how it will be spent.