Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek on Friday offered some of the clearest details yet on legislation she is planning for the 2027 session to further expand childcare access in the state, flanked by advocates at a Portland-area private school heavily dependent on public funding for early learning and care.
At a press conference at the Harmony Montessori School in Portland, Kotek said she would propose a bill that would streamline a slate of state and local early childhood learning programs and focus on expanding the ones working best to boost access and affordability. Harmony serves children from the age of 15 months to Kindergarten, and has received about 75% of its funding from public sources, such as county and state government programs.
The governor, who is running for reelection in November, will in December receive the first set of findings from an expert panel she convened earlier this year meant to inform the legislation and help the state chart a course to a universal preschool program over the next few years.
Oregon already offers its own version of the federal Head Start program for low-income families, known as Oregon Prenatal to Kindergarten, as well as Preschool Promise from the Department of Early Learning and Care, which provides free preschool to 3- and 4-year olds from low-income families. Multnomah County also offers its own universal preschool program called Preschool for All, paid for with revenues from a marginal tax on high income earners.
The governor stressed that she doesn’t necessarily want the state to eliminate its various programs to ensure universal childcare availability, but instead focus on expanding the programs that work well. She said conversations about cost would come after consensus about which programs would be best to expand statewide.
“When we know what the goal is, we will figure out how to pay for it,” she said.
Kotek previously criticized preschool program in Multnomah County
Nearly 35% of all Oregon children needed child care in 2025 but their families lacked reasonable access to a formal setting, according to a report from the national advocacy group Child Care Trust. But the issue of childcare and preschool has been thorny for Kotek, who is seeking to appeal to business and moderate groups for her reelection campaign against Republican challenger state Sen. Christine Drazan, R-Canby, without shying away from her support for social services and lower-income Oregonians.
Located next to Gresham, Harmony Montessori School relies on funding from Preschool Promise and Multnomah County’s Preschool for All program. The income tax that provides revenue for the latter program has been criticized by Kotek and business groups for pushing high earning taxpayers out of the area.
On Friday, however, Kotek celebrated the growth of the program, bumping her fist in the air when Danisa McLean, county division director of preschool and early learning, said that the Preschool for All program doubled its capacity this year by offering more than 7,000 seats to 3- and 4-year olds.
Rep. Jules Walters, a West Linn Democrat and co-chair of the Legislature’s Child Care Caucus who joined Kotek at the news conference, said a universal preschool program in Oregon would pay for itself over time.
“Oregon alone leaves $1.9 billion dollars per year in revenue on the table, due to the lack of affordable, accessible childcare,” Walters said. “When parents leave the workforce, their earnings are not folding back into our economy, and as an income tax dependent state, we lose there too.”
Oregon Capital Chronicle
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