Greetings!
After convening in January to swear in new members and establish committees, the Oregon Legislative Assembly has been in recess until this week. The Legislature reconvenes today to begin regular legislative business. There are a number of important education-related bills this session to keep your eye on, including two from Chalkboard. This month's policy update provides an overview of important information about the session as well as highlights from a selection of the education-related bills. |
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There are quite a few new faces in the Legislature this session and, accordingly, the Senate and House Education Committees look a bit different than in previous sessions. Committee membership is as follows:
Senate Education Committee: House Education Committee:
Mark Hass, Chair Sara Gelser, Co-Chair
Frank Morse, Vice-Chair Matt Wingard, Co-Chair
Suzanne Bonamici Jason Conger, Co-Vice Chair
Larry George Lew Frederick, Co-Vice Chair
Chip Shields Michael Dembrow
John E Huffman
Betty Komp
Julie Parrish
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Senate Bill 252
Establishes a "School District Collaboration Grant Program" to provide funding for school districts to locally redesign and implement programs and policies that integrate new:
- Career paths
- Professional development strategies
- Evaluation processes
- Teacher designed compensation systems
This legislation builds on the promising work being done by educators in the CLASS Project. Funding for the grant would come from a portion of dollars currently allocated to Education Service Districts (ESDs). ESDs currently receive 4.75% of the State School Fund. This bill calls for the .75% to be put in the fund to support investments in effective teaching. Read More
Senate Bill 290
Directs State Board of Education to work with stakeholders to develop statewide performance standards to determine effectiveness of teachers and administrators. This bill calls on the State Board of Education to work with the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission to adopt statewide performance standards to assist school districts in determining the effectiveness of teachers and administrators. The bill requires the performance standards to: take into consideration multiple measures of student, school and district performance; be research-based; and be separately developed for teachers and administrators. Read More. |
Senate Bills:
Senate Joint Resolution
Proposes amendment to Oregon Constitution to create Oregon Rainy Day Fund. Read More.
Senate Bill 170
Provides that State Board of Education shall consist of six appointed members and five elected members and shall represent kindergarten through grade 12, community colleges and institutions of higher education. Transfers duties and powers of board To State Board of Education. Eliminates Joint Boards of Education. Takes effect only if Senate Joint Resolution 4 is approved by the people at the next regular general election Read More.
Senate Bill 249
Creates Task Force on School Reform. Directs task force to study reform of kindergarten through grade 12 public education and make recommendations on how to reform K-12 education. Read More.
Senate Bill 250 Allows school district to withdraw from education service district. Requires education service district to distribute to school district prorated amount of state funding available to ESD. Allows school district to rejoin education service district. Read More
Senate Bill 552
Designates Governor as Superintendent of Public Instruction. Requires Governor to appoint Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction, specifies required qualification of deputy superintendent. Read More.
House Bills:
House Bill 2276
Prohibits school district or public charter school from advancing student beyond third grade if student is not reading at or above third grade level. Requires that written notice be provided to parent or guardian. Allows waiver under specified circumstances. Increases age limitation for persons whom school district must admit free of charge. Read More
House BIll 2288
Require Superintendent of Public Instruction to rate school performance based on letter grades. Directs State Board of Education to report to Legislative Assembly on methods of rewarding school districts with high or improving letter grades. Read More.
House Bill 2301
Allows school district, group of school districts, or education service districts to provide part-time online instruction or full-time online instruction. Establishes requirements and process by which online instruction may be approved by State Board of Education. Allows for certification and establishment of three virtual public schools. Read More.
House Bill 2309
Designates number of days that must be provided in school calendar of school district. Directs Superintendent of Public Instruction to reduce State School Fund distribution to school district if district school board does not comply with school calendar requirements. Allows district school board to reduce days of school calendar if total sum of money available for State School Fund distributions to school districts is reduced. Read More.
House Bill 2310
Allows component school district of education service district to contract with public or private entity for provision of services if school district determines that service needs of school district are not being met by local service plan. Eliminates election procedure for selecting board of directors of education service district. Provides that superintendent or board member of components school districts constitutes board of directors of education service district. Read More
House Bill 2437
Revises method of calculating transportation grant from State School Fund distributions. Allows district school board to determine for which school district will provide transportation. Read More. To see the full list of bills that Chalkboard is tracking visit our legislative advocacy page: http://bit.ly/ezQmaX
(If you know of a bill we should be tracking, let us know.)
Check our Legislative Alerts throughout the session for updates on the bills we're watching and how you can help: http://bit.ly/hS7pvr
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Visit
www.chalkboardproject.org
for information on all of our initiatives
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