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DPO Education Caucus Meeting with Senator Michael Dembrow

October 27, 2024

During the DPO Education Caucus meeting, Senator Michael Dembrow, Chair of the Senate Education Committee, provided a legislative update emphasizing the potential for a Democratic supermajority in the Senate and the impending focus on a significant transportation package alongside educational funding challenges, including an adjustment of $515 million to the education budget’s Current Service Level (CSL). The discussion highlighted a proposal to raise the special education funding cap from 11% to 16% amid workforce retention issues, particularly affecting teachers of color and special education staff, and the anticipated impact of declining enrollment on per-student funding. The meeting also focused on the integration of climate change education and the need for legislative follow-up on passed bills, alongside suggestions for enhancing oversight of education policies through independent assessments of fiscal impacts. Additionally, participants discussed the handling of potentially controversial bills and the need for district policies on cell phone usage in schools. Action items included reaching out to legislators and developing strategies to address contentious issues.

https://orpublicednetwork.org/2024/10/31/353/

July, 2024

OPEN has been busy during past few months. Highlights included (i) wide-ranging discussions with Senator Lew Fredrick, (ii) meeting with Rick Stiggins to discuss his new book Give our Students the Gift of Confidence and how it can be implemented, (iii) addition of a new member who has been deeply involved in educational advocacy in Minnesota, (iv) meeting with Denisha Jones, the director of Defending the Early Years and (v) continued efforts on key pieces of legislation. You’ll find more information below.

Senator Lew Fredrick: Lew has a long history of involvement in education, including 13 years as the Director of Public Information for the Portland Public Schools, 2 years on the Board of the National PTA and 2.5 years on the Oregon State Board of Education. In 2009, he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives and in 2017 he was elected to the Oregon State Senate. He currently serves on three Senate and Joint House/Senate education committees, two of which he co-chairs.

After the short legislative session ended in February, we met with Senator Frederick He noted that there will be a work group with which he hopes OPEN will engage and will focus on issues around online schools and computer learning. We shared our interest in following the results of HB 4124, a bill which required districts to report the number of mandated standardized tests being used in each Oregon school district. We want to know what the real cost of all the testing is with regards to staff time and administrative costs. We are hoping that alternative testing can be funded once again. Two such assessments were piloted in seven Oregon schools in 2016- 17. We are particularly interested in Performance Assessment Demonstration Sites (PADS) and Oregon Formative Assessment for Students and Teachers (OFAST).

It was also suggested to Lew that the QEM Quality Education Model (QEM), which focuses on the cost of a quality education, needs to be updated by a task force.

Senator Frederick closed by asking OPEN to expand our contact list to rural parts of Oregon.

Confidence Promotes Academic Achievement: Research has shown that students who believe in their abilities to succeed, often called Growth Mindset, can be far more successful in school and throughout their lives. We are currently working with Rick Stiggins to promote confidence in Oregon students. Rick is the retired founder and president of t he Assessment Training Institute in Portland, OR. We are promoting his new book, Give Our Students the Gift of Confidence. Please take a half hour to watch his video presentations of this important book.

Rick is working to assist teachers in maximizing student achievement by helping their students come to believe in themselves as capable learners. Parents will gain a great deal by watching the video, as well.

At the end of February, Rick held two successful public events in Eugene, and his work is spreading.

New Member Spotlight:

In March, we welcomed a new member to our team, David LaPorte. David comes to us from the University of Minnesota, where he worked for 37 years as a professor of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics. He brings a wealth of knowledge as he worked to prepare preK-12 students to thrive in an unpredictable future where workers will need a much better education in transferable skills like critical thinking and creative problem solving which are in demand by employers in every sector of our economy. We are grateful for his expertise.

In April, Carol Greenough joined our team. After completing her training as an English teacher and a stint in VISTA, running a tutoring program, Carol went on to get her doctorate in psychology. Her career began in Alaska where she started a mental health/substance disorder clinic in a small Alaskan town, became a commercial fisher, and then was program administrator for Alaska’s 25 mental health centers. Carol came to Oregon in 1987 and worked as K-12 consulting psychologist for several school districts, government agencies and nonprofits. Her teaching ranged from Area 51, a 7th grade course in life skills, to adjunct faculty for the University of Alaska, Juneau and several community colleges. A return to Alaska gave her a chance to dig into policy work as staff for the Alaska Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder boards. In retirement, she serves on the Washington County Behavioral Health Council and as a Family Promise of Tualatin Valley board member. She runs the after-school program at a family homeless shelter and is inspired by the children she works with~~their needs and resilience. Continued policy and political work through advocacy with the legislature, convening East Washington County Democrats and as a House District Leader in Tualatin reflects her desire to help create a community where all of our children can thrive.

Defending the Early Years & the “Science of Reading: In April, we met with Denisha Jones, the Executive Director of Defending the Early Years, a non-profit advocacy group that focusing on the needs of young children. One of the priorities is the Science of Reading. Like many reading policy experts, Denisha is concerned that schools would emphasize just phonics at the expense of the other reading skills: oral language, content knowledge, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. OPEN shares her concerns.

Educational Legislative Priorities Recently Supported by OPEN

  • Workforce Senate Bill 1552. OPEN supports this wide-ranging bill that will prepare students to participate in the workforce. Highlights of the bill include the creation of an Oregon Department of Education work group to set standards and collect data from secondary schools, establishment of a youth advisory group and proactive identification and direct admissions of Oregon’s top students to community colleges and public universities.
  • Collection of Data on Student Assessments: House Bill 4124. Introduced by Representative Nancy Nathanson. The bill passed during the 2022 legislative session and requires the Department of Education to conduct a survey regarding the academic assessments administered to students by school districts and to develop recommendations and best practices related to assessments.



 
Welcome to Oregon Public Education Network News














Oregon Public Education Network welcomes you to our site where we will be updating you on education policy in Oregon. Please visit our website for news updates  to get more involved.





As the 2024 Legislative session closes, we will share with you the successful efforts made in Oregon Public Education policy and the effects they will have on our Oregon students, teachers and districts.





Topics of interest this session included bills concerning Workforce Development, Virtual Public Charter Schools, and Statewide Student Information System.





We know that there is a crisis in education, and the legislators crafted an Omnibus bill in 2023 to address workforce shortages, professional development and a state-wide starting wage. SB 1552 fine-tuned the Omnibus bill to create the Youth Advisory Board which addresses all of these issues as well as the Quality Education Model. 





HB 4161 re-introduced expanding the cap for Virtual Public Charter School students, establishing an education savings account and requiring school districts to participate in open enrollment.





HB 4078 directs the Department of Education to develop a standardized method for collecting student data. This may streamline the process of student tranfers between districts. 





Even though this is a short session, important bills continue to be discussed that may overhaul public education in Oregon and deserve our attention. Please be sure to follow our updates for more information regarding the status of these bills.