Legislative Highlights

The short Oregon legislative session is often described as a sprint. Education advocates will barely have time to catch their breath after Thursday night’s finish before they are training for... Read More

With less than a week left in the 2024 session, education advocates are breathing some sighs of relief. There are still some important issues to be settled, such as summer... Read More

NEWS RELEASE With time running out during the current legislative session, the Oregon School Boards Association is lending its full support to House Bill 4082, designed to support students’ academic... Read More

OSBA Legislative Services Director Lori Sattenspiel testified Thursday before the Senate Education Committee and Chair Sen. Michael Dembrow (left) on a school bus emissions standard in a bill about stop-arm... Read More

The Legislature is full of good ideas that OSBA supports because they will help students and improve schools. Good ideas usually require money, though, and OSBA is careful to monitor... Read More

Sometimes a bill isn’t just a bill. Sometimes it’s a launching point. The Legislature’s education committees heard several bills last week that have little chance of passing. The bills’ real... Read More

The current forecast for the short Oregon legislative session, which debuted Monday, Feb. 5, might best be characterized as cloudy with a chance of missed opportunity. Hanging over the session... Read More

The Senate Republicans reached a deal with Democrats and went back to work Thursday, June 15. Hundreds of bills that likely would have been left for dead in a special... Read More

The longest legislative walkout in Oregon’s history came to an end Thursday, June 15. Minority Senate Republicans ended their 42-day walkout after striking a deal with majority Democrats on bills... Read More

The 2023 legislative session is drawing toward an uncertain close. For weeks, Senate Republicans have stayed off the chamber floor, preventing votes on bills. But over the weekend, reports emerged... Read More

The House passed a $10.2 billion State School Fund last week, generally pleasing education advocates. But the struggle to protect school funding will go on until the last gavel falls... Read More

The legislative walkout continues with no sign of stopping. Just last week, in an interview with KGW8, Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, reaffirmed his commitment and the commitment of... Read More

The State School Fund grabs the spotlight, but anyone who has looked at a school district budget knows education funding comes from many different directions. Savvy education advocates also keep... Read More

Closed captioning on televisions Senate Bill 569 What it does: Oregon grants all persons of age the right to full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges of any place... Read More

The Joint Ways and Means Education Subcommittee officially bumped up the 2023-25 State School Fund to $10.2 billion on Tuesday, May 30. Education advocates are reasonably pleased because it’s far... Read More

The Oregon Legislature is on the brink of an unprecedented breakdown because the Senate can’t get anything done. The Oregon Constitution requires two-thirds of each legislative chamber to be present... Read More

PERS change House Bill 2296 What it does: In 2019, Senate Bill 1049 made changes to the Public Employees Retirement System, including allowing PERS retirees to work unlimited hours. That... Read More

Senate Bill 819, a contentious bill about abbreviated days, was amended and moved out of the House Committee on Education last week on a 4-3 partisan vote. The bill broadly... Read More