Chris Cronin, the 2025 OSBA Board president, spoke at the OSBA Annual Convention in November about community members working together to make the changes they want to see. (Photo by Lionel Lynner, OSBA)
New OSBA Board President Chris Cronin is steeped in Oregon public education.
Her parents were school board members, and her mother was a teacher. Cronin, a Grant County Education Service District board member, earned a bachelor’s degree in education and worked in preschool to college education roles. All four of her children went through public schools, and Cronin has grandchildren in districts around the state.
“I really am a kindergarten to college or career person, and I see the spectrum of needs,” Cronin said. “Public schools are so important to keep our citizens educated, and they are being threatened.”
Oregon has reached a potential turning point in its long struggle to adequately fund public schools and school board voices will be crucial, according to Cronin. OSBA is heading into the new year with the typical turnover in Board leadership, and Cronin is expected to be a steadying hand.
Oregon schools are facing multiple challenges. Federal COVID-19 emergency funding has dried up, but the pandemic’s effects linger in academic progress gaps and chronic absenteeism. Enrollment is dropping in many districts, taking state funding with it, even as calls increase for districts to do more to lift students up.
The 2025 legislative session holds promise for education advocates. Gov. Tina Kotek worked closely with school district representatives to propose an $11.36 billion State School Fund, more accurately capturing school districts’ true costs than state calculations in recent years. Kotek has publicly proclaimed the need for education funding that matches schools’ realities.
Education advocates will be enlightening legislators on those needs, particularly special education costs that exceed state allotments, facility costs that can’t be met in many districts and a sudden jolt in the Public Employees Retirement System rates that is rippling across the state.
“We have a tremendous opportunity to help school districts, which means we have a tremendous responsibility as school board members to tell our story,” Cronin said. “I want to be part of that.”
Cronin’s top goal is to help harness the power of OSBA’s wide membership.
“We accomplish so much more when we work together,” Cronin said. “My agenda is to help my colleagues speak effectively about our needs, to speak and to listen and to be heard.”
With the turn of the year, the OSBA Board changed officers. Past President Sonja McKenzie (Parkrose) moved off the executive team and left the Board, while Sami Al-Abdrabbuh (Corvallis) moved into the past president position. Cronin stepped up from president-elect to president, and Emily Smith (Helix) moved from vice president to president-elect. Dawn Watson (Phoenix-Talent) moved from secretary-treasurer to vice president, and Chrissy Reitz (Hood River County) joined the board as secretary-treasurer.
OSBA members elect roughly half the Board every year, and the close of the vote Dec. 15 added a few new faces: Luhui Whitebear (Corvallis), Randy Shaw (La Grande) and José Gamero-Georgeson (David Douglas).
Laurie Danzuka (Jefferson County), Jackie Crook (South Coast ESD), Kraig Albright (Dayton), Kristy Kottkey (Forest Grove), Katrina Doughty (Multnomah ESD) and Nancy Thomas (Hillsboro) retained their regional seats in the election.
The election filled two vacancies on the OSBA Legislative Policy Committee, adding Jason Curtis (Central Linn) and Jeffrey Crapper (Willamette ESD).
For 2025, David Jaimes (Tigard-Tualatin) will sit on the OSBA Board and Justice Rajee (Beaverton) will sit on the Legislative Policy Committee for the Oregon School Board Members of Color Caucus. Nichole Schott (Condon) will be the Board representative and Tracy Adevai (Glide) will be the LPC representative for the Oregon Rural School Board Members Caucus.
Cronin will lead this new Board with ample experience.
Cronin grew up in Burns, the oldest of six children. Her mother, Bennidine Cramer, was a school board member in the district for 16 years in between teaching stints. Her father, William Cramer, was a Harney County ESD board member for 25 years. He spent 11 years on the OSBA Board, including serving as president in 1985.
Cronin graduated from Burns High School but fell in love with a Grant County boy near the end of high school and ended up in John Day. Chris and her husband, Dan, have been married for 51 years. They have four children and six grandchildren, with another due this month.
Cronin said her grandchildren, who live around Oregon, help keep her connected and fuels her passion to fight the creeping losses to a high-quality education.
“I want my grandchildren to have the same opportunities I had and my children had,” she said.
Cronin has taught early childhood education, worked as a substitute teacher, coordinated a talented and gifted program and taught general education development classes among her jobs. She joined Eastern Oregon University in 1994 and worked in its distance education program before retiring in 2017. She now serves on EOU’s board of trustees.
Cronin served on the Grant School Board from 2013 to 2021. She said that even though she had worked in education all her career, she had a lot to learn about being a school board member.
Cronin’s EOU office was in the Grant County ESD building. When Grant County ESD Superintendent Robert Waltenburg learned Cronin was planning to leave the Grant School Board, he recruited her for the ESD board.
Waltenburg likes the fact OSBA’s new Board president has a rural understanding, but he doesn’t expect that to color her leadership.
“Chris has a heart for kids, bottom line,” Waltenburg said. “She puts kids first and foremost.”
Grant County ESD Board Chair Megan Brandsma said Cronin’s defining characteristic is “total dedication.”
Brandsma said Cronin is always well-informed while bringing heart and a real sense of community service to the work. Brandsma said Cronin is also exceptional at absorbing information and then relaying it to fellow board members.
Cronin joined the OSBA Board in 2020.
Nischik said Cronin’s powerful ability to remain calm and stay focused on the important issues will be essential in the coming year.
“With national politics and state-level demands, there will be a lot of distractions in 2025,” Nischik said. “Chris is steadfast and committed to students’ success. She will dig in, do the work and show up for students.”
– Jake Arnold, OSBA
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