Oregon Lawmakers Eye New Higher education Goals as 40-40-20 Benchmark Remains Unmet
SALEM, Ore. – Oregon is considering a reset of its aspiring higher education goals after falling short of teh state’s 40-40-20 benchmark, which aimed to have 40% of the workforce hold a bachelor’s degree, 40% an associate’s degree or credential, and 20% a high school diploma by 2025.State officials are now planning to solicit feedback from education and workforce groups across Oregon, with the potential to craft a new proposal for the 2027 legislative session.
The 40-40-20 plan, widely discussed a decade ago as a guiding principle for Oregon’s educational future, has seen limited progress. While the specific attainment rates weren’t detailed in the report, the acknowledgement of falling short signals a need for reevaluation.
AFT Oregon, representing K-12 employees, graduate students, and higher education faculty, expressed eagerness to participate in the upcoming discussions. “By working together we can craft goals that chart a path forward for education,” said AFT Oregon representative Jacob. “We need goals that measure affordability, that hold us accountable for building an equitable and inclusive system and that articulate the real public purpose of higher education.”
Policy advisor John Tapogna of research firm ECOnorthwest believes the 40-40-20 framework remains valuable, especially in addressing the ongoing challenge of increasing the number of young professionals with postsecondary credentials – including community college credentials, trade school certificates, and apprenticeships.
“Increasing the number of young working age professionals with a community college credential,trade school certificate,apprenticeship or other education credential has always been the state’s largest challenge,” Tapogna stated. He emphasized the growing importance of postsecondary training in a rapidly evolving economy, driven by advancements in technology like artificial intelligence.He pointed to increasing demand for skilled workers in fields like clean energy, healthcare, and elder care as further justification.
Tapogna also underscored a fundamental need to improve high school graduation rates, describing it as “a moral imperative.” He lamented the diminished focus on attainment rates in recent years,stating,”We need to be paying attention to these attainment rates in the way that we were paying attention to them 10 years ago. They’re as critically important, if not more important, than they were then.”
the Higher Education Coordinating Commission is expected to play a key role in re-amplifying the underlying mission of the state’s educational goals as the process of gathering feedback and developing a new proposal moves forward.
Reporter Julia Silverman contributed to this story.
