🚨Kotek freezes when asked why Oregon’s kids still can’t read.
Moderators at tonight’s Eugene debate did what Salem won’t.
They asked Gov. Tina Kotek the obvious question: why hasn’t more K-12 money improved reading scores?
She never answered it.
Pressed again — “More money, worse results. Why?”
Kotek stalled, then pivoted to “early literacy” and a couple of districts. No explanation for the statewide failure.
Christine Drazan answered it for her.
She tied the results to Kotek’s record: graduation standards stripped, schools locked down longer than almost anywhere else, politics pushed into classrooms, and teachers left unsafe.
As superintendent of public instruction, Kotek owns the scoreboard. Latest tests say nothing is working.
Oregon parents didn’t need a word salad.
They needed an answer.
Drazan gave them one.