Bill Briefs
School improvement investment fund
What it does: This bill would create a $300 million fund from which the Oregon Department of Education could give grants to school districts for “strategic investments.” These investments could be from a long list in the text of the bill including, but not limited to, family service coordinators, education intervention programs, special education programs, dropout prevention strategies in high school and life skills. The $300 million would be an allocation from the State School Fund.
What’s new: The Senate Education Committee heard the bill March 21.
What’s next: OSBA supports the concept but cannot support a $300 million allocation from the State School Fund unless that allocation is above the estimated $8.4 billion required to maintain the current service level in districts for the upcoming biennium. OSBA will monitor the bill’s progress.
Incentives for higher level mathematics courses
What it does: SB 420-A was amended by the Senate Committee on Education. After amendment, the bill, now “420-A,” would do two things: Direct the Higher Education Coordinating Commission to establish rules for reimbursing students who are Oregon residents for tuition expenses incurred for upper-division mathematics courses at a public university and create the Task Force on Creating Incentives for Mathematics Teaching in Oregon to study means by which Oregon can increase the number of mathematics teachers in K-12 education.
What’s new: The amended version of the bill passed out of the Senate Education committee on March 21 with a “Do Pass” recommendation.
What’s next: The bill will go to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means for potential consideration and funding. No new hearing has been scheduled.
Department of State Lands budget
What it does: Senate Bill 5537 is the budget bill for the Department of State Lands. The department handles a variety of topics, including the Common School Fund property and aquatic resource management, and has a business and operations support component. Goals for the department include managing the Common School Fund real property, serving as a trustee for unclaimed property and for estates with no will and no known heirs, protecting Oregon’s waters through Oregon’s removal-fill permits and wetlands conservation laws, and providing leadership and administrative oversight for the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve.
What’s new: The Ways and Means Subcommittee on Natural Resources heard the bill March 23. OSBA testified in support of the bill.
What’s next: OSBA will monitor the bill's progress.