A low-drama legislative session makes for some productive reading with the 2024 OSBA/COSA Legislative Report. A minimum of distractions meant education advocates were able to focus legislators’ attention on solving schools’ challenges.
The annual report is a collaboration between OSBA and the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators. It offers a quick synopsis of the session and all the education-related bills passed by the 2024 Legislature.
OSBA and COSA advocates were able to address pressing issues, such as gaining summer learning funding, protecting schools from public land lawsuits and adjusting 2023 laws that weren’t working as intended. The 28 bills named in the report touch on finance, operations, personnel and programs.
“We did some really good work for schools, and we are laying the foundation for next session,” said OSBA Legislative Services Director Lori Sattenspiel.
Not every bill passed that education advocates championed, but many of the bills started conversations that will continue in the coming months.
As the report notes, work groups and task forces between sessions mean there is no longer any real downtime. Senate Bill 1552, for instance, requires a study of Oregon’s public school funding.
Morgan Allen, COSA’s deputy executive director of policy and advocacy, said several bills put forward by Rep. Courtney Neron and the House Education Committee that failed were still some of the 2024 session’s most positive developments. The bills launched important funding discussions about issues such as special education and students who are homeless or in poverty.
“That tees up a really important conversation in 2025 about what we need to do to make the school funding formula more equitable and meet the needs of all our students,” Allen said.
– Jake Arnold, OSBA
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