PORTLAND - Gov. Ted Kulongoski freely admits that his proposed $5 billion budget for public education for 2005-07 is less than ideal - in fact, about $300 million below what's needed just to keep schools operating at current levels.

Now he's put that in writing, as required by a constitutional amendment dating to 2000 that says the state must detail whether the state is living up to educational goals - or explain why not.

By Kulongoski's calculations, under his budget, "students will have fewer opportunities to achieve in other academic areas as the curriculum becomes narrower, instructional time is reduced and schools are less able to meet diverse student needs."

In one scenario of possible reductions schools may have to make in the coming years because of the lean budget, Kulongoski says that the school year could be reduced by five days, professional development training for teachers could be eliminated and average class sizes could increase by one pupil at all levels.

That would mean an elimination of 955 teachers statewide.

In another scenario for coping with the cuts, the report says schools could choose to eliminate middle and high school counselors for a reduction of 882 employees statewide, reduce support staff by 20 percent, resulting in 2,000 fewer jobs and replace textbooks only half as often as is currently done.

Despite that bleak forecast, the governor's report on education funding makes clear that no significant new revenue is likely to materialize for public schools during the current legislative session.

State Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo, though, said she hasn't given up on finding more money for schools. She has asked to review a list of possible revenue-generating ideas from a bipartisan committee headed by former Republican Gov. Vic Atiyeh, she said, including cutting off some tax breaks.

"I appreciate and respect that (Kulongoski) is facing a difficult challenge here," she said. "But when it comes to setting out the scenarios in this budget, that is not OK. We need to make sure this stuff is not going to happen to our kids and our schools."

Kulongoski does repeat several of the strategies he's outlined in the past for saving money in the schools budget, like the creation of a statewide health insurance pool for teachers and consolidation of administrative services, like payroll and transportation.

Such changes could save between $100 and $200 million, which could then be funneled to the classroom, he says.

But in the report, Kulongoski also repeats his resistance to borrowing or using one-time funding measures to plug holes in the schools budget, instead repeating his mantra that, "$5 billion is all we can afford given our current revenues."

Schools advocates have called for the state to consider closing some tax loopholes to generate more funding. But there appears to be little support for such a move in the Republican-dominated House, where all revenue-raising measures must originate.1

Instead, Kulongoski said belt-tightening now will allow the state to build up a "rainy day fund" for education that could reach up to $500 million by the 2009-2011 biennium.