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 this session. Our members turned out to show their support, and the bills are moving forward.
House Bills 2448, 2682 and 2953 had a public hearing Monday, Feb. 17. Dawn Watson, OSBA Board vice president and Phoenix-Talent School Board member, and Sami Al-Abdrabbuh, OSBA Board past president and Corvallis School Board member, testified in favor of HB 2448, which would increase funding for students with high-cost disabilities, and HB 2953, which would remove the State School Fund formula cap on special education funding.
Luhui Whitebear, OSBA Board and Corvallis School Board member, and Bruce Kevan, OSBA Legislative Policy Committee and La Grande School Board member, were ready to testify, but the meeting ran out of time. Sara Crawford, a Phoenix-Talent School Board member, was also there. Just showing up is important. Legislators place value on seeing so many practitioners in the room and in the virtual space to support these bills.
I really appreciated our members’ willingness to take time out of their day to tell the important stories from their districts. I also testified on HB 2448, but citizen testimony just lands different with legislators.
I also want to thank everyone who submitted written testimony. Legislators and their staff actually read the testimony, so it’s valuable to have stories from multiple districts telling similar stories about these bills’ impact.
The House Education Committee voted Wednesday, Feb. 19, to move HB 2448 and HB 2953 to the House Revenue Committee. Any bill that changes the State School Fund formula must go through revenue. The committee also moved HB 2682, which deals with Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education program funding.
The bills have not been scheduled for a hearing yet, but we’re hoping they will be scheduled next month. If HB 2448 and 2953 pass revenue, the likely next stop is the Joint Ways and Means Education Subcommittee before going to the full Ways and Means Committee.
We still have a long way to go, so education and disability rights partners will continue meeting with legislators and explaining the urgency for these bills.
Whitebear also testified Monday in the Senate Rules Committee on SB 224, a bill that would prohibit the secretary of state from publishing the residence address of any political official or those working on their campaign. Al-Abdrabbuh submitted written testimony. Both discussed their own stories about the fear they’ve experienced while campaigning and the need for their personal address to not be so readily accessible.
Thank you to all those who responded to the action alert for SB 916, the bill granting unemployment benefits to workers on strike. Your specific stories help Stacy Michaelson and I advocate more effectively on your behalf. Your experiences give weight and dimension and heart to dry legal language and faceless data.
Your voice matters in the Legislature – thank you.
– Adrienne Anderson
OSBA Government Relations Counsel
