Legislative hearings preview 2023 education issues
Scott Rogers (bottom left), OSBA Board president and Athena-Weston School Board chair, addressed the Interim Senate Education Committee on Thursday about school ventilation. He joined Jeremy Zeedyk (top right), National Energy Management Institute Committee northeast region representative, and Christopher Ruch (bottom right), National Energy Management Institute director of education. (Photo by Jake Arnold, OSBA)
Lawmakers last week chewed over some potentially contentious issues for the 2023 Oregon Legislature.
The Interim Senate Education Committee on Thursday opened with a report on shortened school days being used to manage special education students with behavior problems.
Settlement negotiations in a 2019 lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Education required the report, which came out June 30. The report found that almost 2% of Oregon students in special education were placed on shortened days, sometimes denying them a “free appropriate public education.” According to the report, the school districts thought they were following proper procedures.
The report recommends ODE clarify the use of shortened school days, including mandatory training, and provide additional recruiting and funding for staff to support students with special needs. School districts, especially in rural areas, have struggled to find staff to support students for full days. Special education teachers are in short supply throughout the nation.
The report also raises local control concerns for school leaders. It recommends ODE take a firmer role in monitoring school districts’ special education programs, including implementing a statewide individualized education program system. IEPs, as they are commonly known, are legal documents that lay out the required special education supports, instruction and services for a student.
Committee member Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin, D-Corvallis, promised legislation in the coming session that would give ODE and parents more ability to monitor school districts’ procedures and enforce the law.
Gelser Blouin also tore into a report presented by ODE Director Colt Gill on graduation requirements.
Gelser Blouin, a fierce special education advocate, said the report’s call to reduce the number of diploma options did not adequately consider the views of special needs students.
The ODE report was required by 2021’s Senate Bill 744. The report focused heavily on equity and achievement gaps with Oregon diplomas and concluded that the essential skills assessment should be halted because it does more harm than good.
Committee Chair Sen. Michael Dembrow was on the Oregon State Board of Education when the essential skills requirement was implemented. Dembrow, D-Portland, said the requirement no longer serves its intended purpose. He rejected the idea that getting rid of essential skills was “dumbing down” Oregon’s graduation requirements because students already prove proficiency through grades.
Earlier Thursday, Gill told the Oregon State Board of Education that ODE has no plans to call for legislation. Next steps will be up to the new governor and the Legislature, he said.
The House Interim Education Committee’s agenda Friday morning again took up equity issues, especially in higher education. It also explored ODE’s efforts to align six federal and state program requirements.
In less controversial business, OSBA Board President Scott Rogers joined a presentation to the Senate committee on the education benefits of investing in school ventilation and healthy buildings. Rogers, the Athena-Weston School Board chair, is senior project manager for Wenaha Group, a construction management firm.
He told legislators that small school districts don’t have the tax base to support updating building systems that are long past their intended life.
On Friday, the Senate approved appointing Shimiko Montgomery of the Bend-La Pine School Board to the Oregon State Board of Education. Montgomery is the executive director of the Central Oregon Health Quality Alliance.
- Jake Arnold, OSBA
jarnold@osba.org