Legislative Highlights

The Oregon Legislature stepped into the national debate on cell phones in schools with a hearing Wednesday, March 26, on House Bill 2251. Cell phones can be addictive distractions in... Read More

Legislative deadlines always change the session’s pace. Big issues that have already moved out of committee are no longer under the spotlight as much (e.g., Senate Bill 916, unemployment insurance... Read More

It’s official: The Legislature is aiming for an $11.4 billion State School Fund. The Co-Chair Budget Framework, released Wednesday, March 19, is the first indication of how the Legislature intends... Read More

With bills needing to be scheduled by Friday, March 21, for a work session, committee agendas have been quite full. The House Education Committee held four work sessions and four... Read More

The Oregon Department of Education began convening a legislatively mandated discussion on accountability in February 2024, more than a year ago. We saw the first public results this week of... Read More

The OSBA School Board Members of Color Caucus and the COSA Equity Board Administrators of Color Network spent the morning of Tuesday, March 11, preparing to meet with Oregon legislators... Read More

Bills to reduce class sizes have been a regular feature in the Oregon Legislature for at least 15 years. Everyone agrees Oregon wants smaller classes if we can achieve them.... Read More

School districts are major employers, which means sometimes we must face labor issues. Senate Bill 916 has been one of the most contentious bills of this session. The bill would... Read More

A complicated and technical analysis of Oregon education funding came to a pretty simple conclusion. “It costs more to achieve more,” University of Miami Professor Bruce Baker told legislators several... Read More

The 2019 Oregon Legislature established a “Fund for Student Success” and adopted the corporate activity tax to pay for it. The aim was to raise about $1 billion a year... Read More

OSBA advocacy work extends beyond the bills that move through the education committees. Sometimes the most contentious bills with the heaviest district impacts don’t have the words school or education... Read More

When voters testify about bills’ real-world effects, legislators listen. The House Education Committee this week held hearings on three bills to increase special education funding, a top OSBA legislative priority... Read More

Successfully passing legislation often starts with laying down a foundation of good understanding. This week, the Oregon Department of Education did solid work setting up the Legislature’s discussions of special... Read More

Our colleagues in other states tell us that Oregon is a bit of an outlier nationally with how closely our various education association partners collaborate. Personally, I take a fair... Read More

School district leaders have told us that adequate special education funding is one of their top priorities for this legislative session. OSBA is part of a coalition of education partners... Read More

It’s been a whirlwind week at the Capitol, with our OSBA team working in a variety of policy committees. We always prefer to be bringing solutions to the table, but... Read More

Gov. Tina Kotek testified Monday, Jan. 27, before the House Education Committee about House Bill 2140, which would codify some education advocate-supported methods for calculating the current service level for... Read More

OSBA legislative services is primarily focused on state and local issues, but we keep a foot in federal-level policy. The Trump administration’s executive orders this week demonstrate the power of... Read More