Over the past year that accountability has been a topic of conversation in Oregon education policy, I’ve heard two descriptions from district leaders that stand out to me: “Shared accountability means I can count on you and you can count on me” and “for everything I ask of you, I owe you a measure of support in return.”
That’s not entirely different than what we see in the legislative space, where advocates, stakeholders and legislators engage in back-and-forth, good faith negotiations to settle on what we hope is the best policy.
We have to trust one another. At the end of the day, we are not only accountable to each other but also to Oregonians. The devil is often in the details (as I’m becoming known around the office for saying), but the proof will always be in the pudding.
OSBA remains at the table for the conversation on Senate Bill 141 and House Bill 2009, the twin education accountability measures. Our commitment to partners is that we are working toward legislation that will benefit students and can be implemented statewide.
The House and Senate education committees held a joint hearing Wednesday, April 2, during which legislators were able to ask some questions. However, by the time the hearing ended, there was a desire for more discussion, especially with additional amendments forthcoming.
We expect to see a third set of bill amendments by early next week in advance of second public hearings in both education committees. A legislative deadline Wednesday, April 9, requiring bills to move out of policy committees is adding pressure.
The proposed legislation must pass through the Joint Ways and Means Committee, which is not subject to the deadline, because it involves spending state money. One or both of the bills could make a stop in a rules committee, which is not bound by the deadline rules and would allow a fuller discussion.
The request that we are sharing with partners, legislators and the executive branch is that the -3 amendments use more specific language ensuring shared accountability. We want to see more statutory language spelling out the ways in which the Oregon Department of Education will be supporting this work. This includes:
- having clear workplans and public reports to the Legislature on progress,
- ensuring ODE-provided coaches and stewards have the right experience, expertise and training to work with diverse districts across the state and to give guidance to districts that is cohesive across programming and budgeting,
- making sure that we are taking a comprehensive view of how districts are performing, including looking at growth data provided by interim assessments, given that Oregon has a high rate of students that opt out of statewide summative assessments
We believe these requests are necessary components of building an accountability and support system that will set up local districts and ODE for success.
We will continue to work toward final bill language that elevates systemwide accountability. The Legislature and local school districts should be able to count on ODE to improve support for districts and guide them through this new process. The legislative and executive branches should be able to count on school districts to focus on student growth and to make data-informed decisions at the local level.
And all Oregonians should be able to count on our state and local systems to work together in support of students.
– Stacy Michaelson
OSBA Government Relations and Communications Director
