State Board of Education approves Measure 98 rules

The State Board of Education approved the rules to implement Measure 98 on Thursday.

Measure 98, aimed at improving graduation rates, passed easily in November. It offers schools funding to establish or expand programs in career technical education, college preparation and dropout prevention. Schools must submit a biennial plan to ODE describing how they will address all three areas.

“Measure 98 presents a unique opportunity to target resources at one of Oregon’s most pressing challenges, our graduation rate,” Deputy Superintendent of Public Education Salam Noor said in a statement.

The measure called for $800 per high-school student, but the actual level will depend on the Legislature’s appropriation for the High School Graduation and College and Career Readiness Fund.

Schools had expressed concern about some of the measure’s language, but this is the last word on the measure unless the Legislature decides to make changes.

The Oregon Department of Education also delivered to the state board the draft plan for Oregon’s compliance with the Every Student Succeeds Act. The plan will be open for comment, and it returns to the board for final approval March 23. Oregon’s plan will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education on April 3.

- Jake Arnold, OSBA
jarnold@osba.org

(Below: Salam Noor, deputy superintendent for public instruction, listens to testimony last month about implementing Measure 98. (Photo by Jake Arnold, OSBA))