Tina Kotek on Health Care

Eliminate the backlog at Oregon's health licensing boards

Ensuring that students have adequate access to behavioral health services in and out of school settings is critical to supporting children and their families. That includes specific supports for mental health and substance abuse, including targeted residential and community-based treatment capacity, and suicide prevention programming. When a young person develops an addiction, we need residential facilities that can care for them and help them manage the factors that led them to substance use.

We will move the needle on more recovery services

A: We now have the marijuana dollars flowing out into communities from Measure 110 [which allocates cannabis tax revenue to addiction treatment services]. We will move the needle on more recovery services. In terms of how we got here, it was [lack of] resources. Behavioral health services are always kind of the stepchild of the health care system. Q: Why are Oregon's outcomes for K-12 students so poor?

A: Our numbers are improving. Prior to the pandemic, graduation rates were on the rise. The key is increased accountability and transparency in how the new Student Success Act dollars are being spent. We were very specific. We want to make sure that the social, emotional well-being of students is better addressed through counselors and nurses and other folks who could be in the schools to help students be successful.