New work groups begin focusing Joint Interim Committee on Student Success’ efforts
Joint Interim Committee on Student Success Co-Chair Sen. Arnie Roblan addresses area business leaders during a Wednesday afternoon meeting in the Beaverton City Council chambers. (Photo by Jake Arnold, OSBA)
Joint Interim Committee on Student Success work groups met for the first time Wednesday in Beaverton.
Beaverton was the seventh stop on the committee’s public meeting tour around Oregon. The bipartisan committee is traveling Oregon to gather ideas for a legislative plan to adequately fund K-12 public schools while improving Oregon education.
The committee leadership assigned members to one of three work groups: Students Ready and Able to Learn, College and Career Ready, and High Quality Classrooms. The work groups will create a handful of education policy goals by Aug. 1.
Committee Co-Chair Sen. Arnie Roblan (D-Coos Bay) said the committee is trying to identify the most effective changes and what it would cost to do them right.
“We want to be able to defend why we think we need more money,” Roblan said.
The groups are considering a broad array of policy areas, including early learning, student supports, safety, facilities, college preparation, assessments and teacher needs.
During an afternoon meeting, education and community leaders told legislators ways to improve Oregon education outcomes. Teachers, administrators and education advocates covered topics ranging from more early learning options to longer school years and additional career and technical education. Needs included staff, teacher training, parent engagement initiatives and student services.
“It comes down to adequate and stable funding, and we can solve everyone’s issues around this table,” OSBA Board President LeeAnn Larsen told the assembled group. Larsen is a Beaverton School Board member.
OSBA Board Secretary-Treasurer Maureen Wolf stressed the need for more social-emotional learning and wraparound student supports. The Tigard-Tualatin School Board member said schools are the community hub for a variety of state services, including food, health and mental wellness.
“We need better integrated services across our agencies,” she said.
Hillsboro School Board member Erika Lopez, the regional representative for the OSBA School Board Members of Color Caucus, raised the issue of initiatives for students of color.
The committee spent the morning touring summer education programs in Beaverton, Cornelius, Forest Grove, Hillsboro and Portland. The committee capped its day with a public hearing at the Arts and Communications Magnet Academy in Beaverton. More than three dozen people signed up to speak.
The committee’s next scheduled public hearing will be Sept. 13 in Redmond.
- Jake Arnold, OSBA
jarnold@osba.org