A priority for Oregon.

Byline: The Register-Guard

A state in which each generation is better educated than the one that came before can expect that tomorrow will be better than today. Oregon is not such a state. Unless Oregon begins investing more in higher education, the dividends that flow from such an investment will soon dwindle. No issue is more important to the state's future, and Oregonians should demand that candidates seeking their votes this fall address it.

According to figures the Oregon University System obtained from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, about 40 percent of Oregonians aged 45 to 54 have degrees from two- or four-year institutions of higher learning. Among those aged 25 to 34, only about 35 percent have such degrees. Middle-aged Oregonians are better educated than those in the early stages of their working lives. This spells trouble for the state's economic and social future.

Nationally, the percentage of Americans with a college credential is nearly the same for both age groups - about 36 percent. But Oregonians aged 45 to 54 are significantly better-educated than their average counterparts across the country, while younger Oregonians have slightly less education than the national average for their group. Education confers a strong economic advantage, an advantage that Oregon has enjoyed over its competitors but is now losing.

In global competition, the picture is even worse. The young adults in most of the nations surveyed by the OECD have significantly higher levels of educational attainment than older adults. In Japan and Korea, the 25- to 34-year-olds are about twice as likely to have a two- or four-year degree as the 45- to 54-year-olds. Education is a ladder that much of the world is climbing, while America stands still and Oregon slips down.

It's no secret that the ladder leads to prosperity, individually and collectively. According to the OUS, a person with a college degree can expect to earn 78 percent more than a person with a high school diploma. People with higher-paying jobs generate more taxes, savings and consumption, and require fewer social services. The benefits are more than economic; education leads to higher levels of civic involvement and personal fulfillment.

And what lies at the bottom of the ladder? The Oregon Progress Board estimates that within 20 years, 80 percent of high-wage jobs in Oregon will require a two- or four-year degree. Unless Oregonians prepare the next generation for such employment, there are two possibilities. One is that high-paying jobs will be created elsewhere. The other is that jobs with good pay will be filled by educated workers who immigrate to Oregon from other states or nations while Oregonians mop the floors.

Recent experience proves that Oregon can arrest this slide. In the 1999-2001 biennium, the state Legislature approved the first significant increase in higher education spending in a decade. The general fund appropriation went up 25 percent, and higher education's share of the state budget crept up a notch. This increase had an immediate effect in the form of increased enrollment. The medium-term effect materialized four years later as those students began to graduate. The long-term effects will ripple forward for decades, as the graduates' educational credentials are rewarded in the marketplace.

After 2001, however, the Legislature reverted to its habitual neglect of higher education. State funding in 2003-05 was 12 percent below the peak level of 1999-2001. The OUS received 6 percent of the general fund in that biennium, half the share it received in 1987-89. When state funding was nearly restored to the level of six years earlier during the 2005 legislative session, higher education was regarded as having fared well in Salem's budget battles.

That's not good enough. Oregon ranks 46th in the nation in its per-capita funding for universities and community colleges. Tuition rates are high, faculty salaries are low and student-faculty ratios are poor. OUS chancellor George Pernsteiner says some of the system's regional campuses are "one bad recruiting year away from being broke." Oregon is unprepared to double its output of graduates, which it must do over the next 20 years if it hopes to meet the demand for educated citizens.

At its meeting last month the state Board of Higher Education voted to request a budget of $988 million for 2007-09, a 36 percent increase over the figure for the current two-year period. Gov. Ted Kulongoski offered a lukewarm response, saying that he doubted the entire request could be approved in a single biennium. Ron Saxton, Kulongoski's Republican opponent, announced Friday that he would oppose a state spending limit that would crush hopes for a budget increase of the magnitude the OUS needs. But neither Saxton nor Kulongoski has picked up the OUS budget banner.

Oregonians need more from their leaders, both in the governor's office and in the Legislature. Oregon won't prosper if parents are better educated than their children. Any candidate who does not support a sharply increased investment in its community colleges and universities is not serious about creating a better future for the state - and, indeed, is collaborating in Oregon's decline.