The Oregon Department of Education would have historic power to intervene in struggling schools and districts across the state under two new bills backed by Gov. Tina Kotek.
Both House Bill 2009 and Senate Bill 141 would bring statutory teeth to the state’s education agency, which has long been treated more like a bureaucratic granting institution and source for school guidance than a regulator, and where top-down school reform has been a choice rather than a mandate for chronically underperforming districts.
I love the embedded assumption that the problem with schools in Oregon isn’t the fault of the legislature or the Oregon Department of Education.
House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene and Senate President Rob Wagner joined Kotek at the press conference. Fahey said assessments showing Oregon students struggling to regain ground in key subjects since the pandemic are “unacceptable.”
“Oregon has made significant investments in our K-12 education system, but our student outcomes remain amongst the lowest in the nation,” she said. “That is unacceptable. It’s unacceptable to the governor, to the Senate president and I, and it’s unacceptable to educators, families and administrators all around the state.”
Oregon was in the bottom half of states in reading and math scores among fourth and eighth graders in the most recent results from the National Assessment for Educational Progress.
Oregon’s “significant investments” are not the problem. The problem is that we have mainstreamed kids who don’t belong in public schools and have turned a blind eye when the fail to self-regulate. Further, we’ve lowered academic expectations to the floor in the name of “equity” and robbed students of any incentive to perform. This is why Oregon’s test scores are rock bottom while its graduation rates are high.