There is a magic number in Oregon education funding. We aren’t talking about the salary numbers that would make the teacher strike in Portland go away or resolve the contract negotiations in Bend.

The most magic of Oregon education numbers is the so-called QEM, the funding level of the quality education model.

The Legislature is actually required under the Oregon Constitution to provide enough money to the state’s education system so that it meets quality goals. And it must publish a report declaring if the state’s appropriation is enough — or not — to meet those goals and the impact on the system.

The number comes up short year after year. The 2022 quality education model report declared the magic QEM number to be $13.2 billion for 2023-25. The Legislature’s appropriation was $11.7 billion.

Short, again. Legislators spent some time this week discussing what is right and what is wrong with the QEM.

Is it truly the Legislature’s own determination of what state education funding should be? Arguably not.

Does the model for setting the number need to be revamped? Even the commission that came up with the recent number believes that is true.

“We are hearing a lot about how we are not funding to the QEM,” state Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, said. “We need a better understanding of what the QEM is. And what it should be.”

There’s more to improving education than just more money, of course. There may be some correlation between more money and better student achievement. Deeper analysis is required.

There should be metrics that help show that the

spending is working. There should be accountability for how the money is spent. And it is further complicated because different districts and different schools have different practices and different needs.

Some bad news: Education spending is going to go off a kind of cliff when money related to the pandemic dries up. The corporate kicker can also be a great source of revenue for K-12 funding. It is not reliable.

Members of the quality education commission have also argued that legislators used the Fund for Student Success improperly. That money, fueled by a new corporate tax, was supposed to be additional dollars to increase money in schools. Members of the commission say it was used by the 2021 Legislature “to supplant a portion” of the state’s normal funding for schools.

If that did happen, it’s not supposed to happen.

The conversation about revising how the QEM works will shape education funding and the money available for the other things Oregon government does. Legislators may be able to get the QEM better at matching needs for growing concerns such as student behavioral and mental health.

However the QEM is changed, we have a rather obvious prediction: The Legislature’s appropriation will continue to fall short of the magic number.