Becky Tymchuk (left) questions Oregon Department of Education staff during the State Board of Education meeting Thursday, Oct. 16, in Salem. Tymchuk, a Northwest Regional Education Service District board member, is the school board adviser to the state education board. (Photo by Jake Arnold, OSBA)
The Oregon Legislature makes the laws, but the State Board of Education sets the all-important rules.
As the state board wrestles with defining what “accountability” legislation will mean in practice, a longtime OSBA Legislative Policy Committee member is helping give the school board perspective.
The state board met Thursday, Oct. 16, with a mixture of online and in-person attendance to discuss two aspects of Senate Bill 141, the 2025 Oregon Education Accountability Act.
Becky Tymchuk, the state board’s school board adviser, opened the meeting talking about her responsibility to help students succeed and the joint statewide work required.
“I don’t want to be just accountable to the Legislature or accountable to the school districts,” she said. “I want to be accountable with. … This is with everyone who touches education.”
The state board is on a tight timeline to enact SB 141. Some sections of the law must be in place by January, and schools must start implementing the rules by next school year.
The fast turnaround will be made more complicated by likely state budget cuts next year that could hit the very Oregon Department of Education staff needed to support the new rules. The accountability bill passed before Congress delivered House Resolution 1, a federal spending bill that will cut nearly $2 billion from Oregon’s budget this biennium.
The State Board of Education sets policies and standards for Oregon’s school districts and education service districts. The board is made up of nine voting members appointed by the governor, with six representing Oregon’s congressional districts and three representing the state at large.
State board member Cynthia Richardson is also a Salem-Keizer School Board member. Vice-Chair Shimiko Montgomery is a former Bend-La Pine School Board member, and state board member Libra Forde is a former North Clackamas School Board member.
The state board has five nonvoting advisers chosen by the board who serve one-year terms: two students and a representative for teachers, administrators and school board members.
Tymchuk, the school board representative, has been on the Northwest Regional Education Service District board for three years and before that she served on the Beaverton School Board for eight years. The 2022 Oregon School Board Member of the Year, Tymchuk has represented Washington County on the OSBA Legislative Policy Committee for 12 years.
Legislative Policy Committee members help set OSBA’s agenda in the Legislature as well as act as important communication bridges between Salem and their communities. The LPC is made up of regionally elected representatives as well as the OSBA Board, a body of also regionally elected representatives who guide the association and advocate on a state level.
Thursday’s meeting was the first reading for rules for two SB 141 sections. Rules for repealing fees for publishers submitting instructional materials for adoption by the state board are widely supported by education advocates, including OSBA.
SB 141 also requires three interim assessment tests a year in math and language arts for grades K-8. The state board must adopt a list of no more than four approved assessment tests by January. The board heard rules and criteria for the tests Thursday.
Proposed rules generally receive at least two hearings before the state board. ODE develops the proposed rules with input from the Oregon Rules Advisory Committee, which includes educators, administrators, community partners, parents, students and advocates from groups such as OSBA.
The ORCA reviews the rules before they have a state board first read. The state board offers feedback, ODE makes revisions and then the ORCA reviews them again before the second and often final read.
Because SB 141 is so complicated, ODE is also establishing technical advisory committees to look at specific parts of the bill and provide “a more on-the-ground perspective,” said Lindsay Baker, ODE strategic initiatives officer.
Among the bill’s most contentious parts is a requirement that the state board set performance targets for schools. If they don’t meet them, ODE can take control of some of their budgets to direct efforts.
The performance metrics will be third grade reading proficiency, eighth grade math proficiency, ninth grade on track rates, graduation rates, attendance rates and a local metric chosen from a list of no more than five items provided by the state board.
The state board won’t hear ODE’s proposals on the metrics until November with a December adoption goal, rushing any educator input. Baker said ODE is trying to find the balance between bringing in input and meeting the Legislature’s timeline.
“It feels aggressive because it’s urgent,” Baker said. “The statutory deadlines are what they are. … We are putting our best and brightest minds toward it.”
Three school board members are on the technical advisory committee: Condon School Board member Nichole Schott, Hood River County School Board member Chrissy Reitz and Tigard-Tualatin School Board member Tristan Irvin. All three are OSBA Board members, and Reitz is OSBA Board secretary-treasurer.
OSBA chose the members to represent small, medium and large school districts, according to Stacy Michaelson, OSBA Government Relations and Communications director. Michaelson said the range of Oregon school sizes is too vast for these three to fully represent everyone, and she hopes they will serve as liaisons with a range of OSBA members to share information and collect feedback.
Tymchuk said that is her challenge on the state board as well.
“It’s impossible for one voice to speak for more than 1,400 people,” Tymchuk said.
During the meeting she repeatedly asked presenters how the rules would account for districts that are in different stages of curriculum adoption and testing implementation. She also frequently raised the cost issue. Her concerns were echoed around the table.
A letter submitted by OSBA, the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators, the Oregon Association of Education Service Districts and the Oregon Association of School Business Officials noted that SB 141 did not include money for the new interim tests.
“To implement these rules costs money, and these rules come without additional dollars,” Tymchuk said before the meeting. “I’m hopeful that the state board is able to bring a new understanding of what we need to do with the dollars we have.”
– Jake Arnold, OSBA
[email protected]
