Legislative Briefs
Stable funding for wildfire-hurt districts
What it does: Oregon’s K-12 funding combines revenue from state, local and federal sources and is distributed via the state school funding formula. The formula is codified in statute and is heavily dependent upon the average daily membership of each district. House Bill 2630 would use money from the Statewide Education Initiatives Account portion of the Student Success Act to provide stable funding over the next four years to qualified school districts that experience a decline in enrollment due to the 2020 wildfires.
What’s next: On June 2, the bill was amended and passed out of the House Revenue Committee and has been referred to the Joint Ways and Means Committee.
Public meetings
What it does: The intent of Oregon's public meetings law is to ensure all public governing bodies make decisions openly. All meetings of public governing bodies must be open to the public unless an exception applies, such as executive session. Public meetings may currently be conducted by "telephone or other electronic communication” with proper notice and when opportunity for public access is provided. House Bill 2560 would require all meetings, excluding executive sessions, held by a public governing body to reasonably provide the general public with an opportunity to access the meeting by telephone, video or other electronic or virtual means and to allow oral and written testimony by electronic or virtual means.
What’s next: The bill has passed the House and Senate and is awaiting the governor’s signature.
Legislative notes:
The House Committee on Education will be holding an informational meeting Tuesday, June 8, to hear invited testimony regarding the recruitment and retention of teachers of color and an update on the State School Fund work group. Sami Al-Abdrabbuh, OSBA Oregon School Board Members of Color Caucus president and Corvallis School Board chair, will present on behalf of OSBA. The committee will also hold an informational meeting Thursday, June 10, to hear invited testimony concerning career and technical education and Measure 98.