We are Oregonians watching our schools and libraries collapse while our tax dollars flow elsewhere.

Eugene's 4J School District faces a $50 million deficit. Portland has cut $115.5 million from its budgets since the 2023–24 school year—300 positions gone, 87 of them teachers. Corvallis and Springfield are cutting too. Cottage Grove eliminated library positions and cut library funding by 55%. Springfield cut library funding by roughly $300,000. Tigard proposed reductions of $432,500 in personnel and materials. The State Library of Oregon warned of losing about $2.6 million, roughly 25% of its annual budget.

Our children lose their schools. Our communities lose their libraries. We keep asking: where is the money?

The answer is in plain sight. Oregon's state and local programs have awarded over $10 billion in cumulative corporate subsidies tracked through public databases. Oregon public school districts lost nearly $275 million in 2024 alone due to corporate property tax abatements and enterprise zone exemptions. The standard Enterprise Zone program cost the state roughly $98.7 million in foregone local property tax revenue over the 2023–2025 biennium.

Mega corporations get tax breaks. Our children get layoffs.

We also know that federal taxes collected from Oregon residents contribute over $194 million toward military funding for Israel. Federal funds make up roughly 10.1% of public school funding in Oregon—over $2,200 per student. The choice is stark: that money could be here, in our schools and libraries, or it continues flowing overseas.

While Oregon cannot veto federal taxes, we can act where we have power. We can boycott. We can divest. We can demand that our state and local leaders cut corporate subsidies and redirect that money to our communities. We can pressure our politicians to investigate city ties, vendor contracts, and economic support tied to companies involved in overseas conflicts. We can urge our senators to stop funding Israel's genocide.

This isn't only about securing funding for our children to have a proper education. It's about giving them a better world. It is about ending a genocide. The Palestinian people have been subject to bone-crushing occupation and oppression for generations. Their children have never known freedom. We must rise together to end the apartheid, oppression, and genocide of the Palestinian people.

We, the undersigned, demand that Oregon politicians endorse boycotts of Israel, stop arms sales to Israel, cut corporate subsidies, and fund our schools and libraries. Children come first.