The 2025 legislative session ended in a flurry of last-minute activity and shifting political dynamics, culminating in adjournment shortly after 11 p.m. Friday, June 27. The Oregon Education Department budget and other important funding adjustments were among the final bills to pass.
With everything that happened in the final weeks, it’s easy to lose sight of the items that were hot topics just a few months ago. In this final Legislative Highlights of the 2025 regular session, we offer an update on some of the last-minute budget moves, provide next steps and share an overview of how K-12 fared overall.
The ODE budget, Senate Bill 5515, passed out of the second chamber Thursday. The agency budget included some notable reductions.
Title I Summer Learning
Given the $35 million allocation for summer learning in House Bill 5047, the final ODE budget zeroed out a previous $9 million allocation for summer learning in Title I schools. Our understanding is that ODE is working to identify alternative funding sources to protect programming for this summer, and we are waiting to hear more. Districts have already claimed all the $35 million for 2025 summer learning.
Student Success Plan Grants
Student Success plans, funded through the Statewide Education Initiatives Account, are being consolidated into a single grant stream instead of the multiple distinct grants focused on targeted populations. Funding has been reduced by more than 50%, with a total of $20 million allocated for 2025-27 compared with $43.8 million in 2023-25.
Student Success plan grantees are a combination of K-12 school districts and education service districts, universities and community colleges, and community-based organizations. ODE had previously signed grant agreements for the Student Success plans to run 2024-28, contingent upon funding. Now that the funding has been reduced and the grants consolidated, it is unclear how the agency will move forward. For example, all grants could be reduced proportionally, or there could be a process to prioritize certain grantees or populations, or there could be an entirely new grant application process.
ODE will be gathering feedback from stakeholders as well as getting guidance from the Oregon Department of Justice about how to move forward. It is possible that any changes might need to go before the State Board of Education for approval, but the next board meeting is not until mid-August.
We think ODE understands the challenge this timing will pose for districts and will be moving as quickly as it can to provide more information. We also know that there is often a delay in grant funding getting out the door when everything remains status quo, so grantees should prepare to live with some budget uncertainty for the foreseeable future.
Grow Your Own and Administrator Scholars Program
In the 2023-25 budget, the Educator Advancement Council had a sufficient beginning fund balance that a handful of programs were paid for out of reserves rather than drawing down funds from the Statewide Education Initiatives Account. This was intended to be a one-time use, but in the 2025-27 budget-building process, those programs’ funding was not added back into the SEIA budget.
Following the bleak June revenue forecast, there was limited ability to reinstate funding. Legislators and budget writers made some modest adjustments between funds, but ultimately funding for Grow Your Own grants and the Administrator Scholars Program was not included in the ODE budget.
Recognizing the value of these programs and the need to fulfill commitments to current participants, The Legislature granted permission in one of the session’s final budget bills (HB 5006) for the council to spend $14 million of its funds on Grow Your Own and the Administrator Scholars Program. This does not provide new funding for these programs, so the council will have to adjust its spending.
The council is determining next steps, with a commitment to prioritize funding for students enrolled in summer and fall terms, mentoring for participants, and ensuring a runway for grantees to wind down programming if needed. The council is working to determine how many Grow Your Own participants can be supported and for how long, as well as the viability of ongoing support for high school career and technical education and dual credit programs.
We know these last-minute adjustments present budgeting and programming uncertainty for districts and partners. Those challenges are real and compounded by the federal budget uncertainty. As we reflect on the past six months, though, we also think it’s important to keep in mind where K-12 landed with regard to overall funding.
The table below, courtesy of the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators, offers a quick reference on 2025-27 funding levels.
– Stacy Michaelson
OSBA Government Relations and Communications Director
