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 learning funding, but the bulk of the important education bills are making their way through the House and Senate. Productive conversations with legislators on both sides of the aisle have mostly produced bills that fit with school leaders’ needs.
The 2024 legislative session opened with a shadow hanging over it. The Oregon Supreme Court had just told some Republican legislators they could not run for office again, and there were fears they might prevent anything from getting done.
There have been some partisan clashes, with one of the most heated over Senate Bill 1583A to reinforce preventions against school boards’ banning books based on discriminatory reasons. For the most part, though, this session has been without any of the fundamental education system battles that have marked most recent sessions. (Knock on wood.)
That’s not to say it’s been restful for OSBA’s legislative representatives Lori Sattenspiel and Efren Zamudio. In committee hearings and Capitol offices, they have been explaining to legislators the nuances of how different bills would affect schools. Largely unseen, their work has tangible results in significant changes to make bills more workable for schools.
In some cases, they arranged to have a troublesome bill set aside until more work could be done with it. In other cases, they took a bill headed in the right direction and made it better. One of the telltale marks of education lobbyists’ work is the number of education bills with a letter behind the number. A letter means the bill was amended at some point, usually after advocates have helped a legislator understand some of the bill’s real-world effects.
Here are just a few of the bills this session that are answering the needs of school districts, education service districts and community colleges.
Senate Bill 1576A – Recreational immunity
Generally, public landowners are protected from lawsuits by people using the land for recreation. But a 2023 court ruling opened up the possibility of landowners being sued by people using trails or land for “walking, running or bicycling.” SB 1576 offers some temporary protection until the law can be better sorted out.
School districts own a lot of land people like to use for recreation. A liability lawsuit could be devastating, but schools aren’t eager to try to keep people away from their playgrounds and fields, especially in rural areas where there are fewer public parks.
OSBA staff worked with Sen. Floyd Prozanski and a coalition of education advocates to make sure the amended law protects school lands, a great relief to school districts’ insurance pool, Property and Casualty Coverage for Education.
SB 1576A passed the Senate on Feb. 22 and is scheduled for a House vote Monday, March 4.
House Bill 4147A – Diesel emission standards
HB 4147 is primarily concerned with allowing cameras to be placed on school buses’ stop arms to help prevent dangerous driving around students. But the bill presented an opportune vehicle to carry an amendment addressing problems with a school bus emissions requirement. By Jan. 1, 2025, all Oregon school buses were required to be 2007 or newer models or retrofitted to meet more stringent emission standards.
According to Michael Carter, Oregon Small Schools Association executive director, many small school districts just couldn’t meet that deadline because of local infrastructure limitations, supply chain issues and budget cycle demands.
Sattenspiel worked with Rep. Courtney Neron to amend HB 4147 to give school districts an extra year to comply.
The bill passed the House on Feb. 19 and is scheduled for a Senate vote Monday, March 4.
This is a big bill, doing a lot of things school districts asked for. Two technical fixes to 2023 laws were among the most pressing for OSBA’s members.
The Coalition of Oregon School Administrators and the Oregon School Employees Association joined OSBA to amend SB 1552 to make clear that “just cause” protections for school employees includes only classified employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
OSBA worked with Rep. Maxine Dexter, Sen. Michael Dembrow and COSA to make clear that schools are not required to carry or administer medicines to reverse opioid overdoses, such as Naloxone. The bill would also grant some liability protection to schools in such cases.
SB 1552A has cleared the Senate Education Committee and has been assigned to the Joint Ways and Means Capital Construction Subcommittee.
Senate Bill 1558 – Abbreviated day fix
SB 819 (2023), ensuring students with disabilities receive full days of instruction, was one of the more complicated and emotional bills from the last session. SB 1558 creates exceptions for students in grades 11 and 12 who do not need to attend school for a full day or need to be away from school part of the day to fulfill graduation requirements.
OSBA and COSA worked with Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin to make changes to her bill from last year. She sponsored SB 1558, which she called “common sense” fixes.
SB 1558 passed the Senate on Feb. 21 and is scheduled for a House vote Monday, March 4.
SB 1502A – School board transparency
As a former Lake Oswego school board member, Senate President Rob Wagner knows the power of making school board meetings available online. With SB 1502, he aims to increase community engagement while making school board meetings more accessible.
OSBA and COSA worked with Wagner to amend the bill to remove a livestreaming requirement while maintaining the spirit of transparency with a requirement to post meeting recordings within seven days. Rep. Emily McIntire and Rep. Mark Owens, both current school board members, joined in the discussions to make sure there are exceptions in the bill for small schools and schools without broadband access.
SB 1502A passed the Senate on Feb. 21 and is scheduled for a House vote Monday, March 4.
– Jake Arnold, OSBA
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