By ALEX BAUMHARDT/Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregon school districts would no longer be able to shorten the school year to cut costs, avoid layoffs or plug budget holes under a new order from the state’s governor.
Gov. Tina Kotek presented the order to the State Board of Education at its monthly meeting Thursday and asked the board to approve temporary rules requiring schools that have already cut school days this year to add them back by the 2027-28 school year. She then asked the board to change state rules regarding instructional time, no longer allowing districts to cut instructional hours or to count teacher professional development or parent-teacher conferences as instructional hours.
“Too many Oregon students are not getting the time in the classroom they need to succeed,” Kotek said in a news release. “We cannot expect better outcomes if we continue to give our students less time to learn.”
Oregon has one of the shortest school years in the country, according to a recent ECONorthwest analysis commissioned by the advocacy group Stand for Children. And Oregon students have some of the highest rates of chronic absenteeism in the nation, according to a recent analysis from the University of Oregon.
Portland, West Linn-Wilsonville, Reynolds, St. Helens, Lake Oswego and Beaverton schools have all cut school days during the most recent school year for budget reasons, according to OPB reporting. Portland’s cuts were made to help cover a $14 million budget shortfall.
Kotek in an FAQ accompanying the release of the order suggested she is open to tapping the Education Stability Fund to help districts with one-time budget issues so they can comply with the order. The governor has the power to declare an economic emergency and tap the fund, as does the state Legislature if two-thirds of each chamber agree to it.
“I know you’re working in a complex economic environment, and I know resources are constrained, and I know that the path forward won’t necessarily be simple or easy, but I also know, as you all do, that our kids are worth it, the future of Oregon is worth it and sometimes as leaders we must do the hard thing, especially when it’s the right thing to do,” she said at a news conference Thursday morning. “Sometimes, we’re going to have to work with what we have, and find a way forward.”
The Coalition of Oregon School Administrators, representing 2,500 school administrators in the state, said in a statement that it agrees with the governor’s concerns about lost class time, but prohibiting schools from readjusting time to preserve staff could undermine instructional quality for the sake of instructional quantity.
“The governor’s executive order introduces an additional challenge for districts already navigating declining enrollment, rising PERS obligations, increasing operational costs and the financial pressures facing educators themselves,” the group wrote. “While we share the goal of protecting and expanding instructional time, we believe that a mandated approach at this moment is unlikely to produce the meaningful, sustainable change Oregon students deserve.”
Enrique Farrera, president of the Oregon Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, suggested in a statement that the union might go to court over the order.
“If needed, we will use any tool we have to challenge this order,” he said.
Farrera largely took issue with the lack of union or teacher input on Kotek’s order before it was issued.
“With current budget challenges, some districts have been put in a difficult situation: eliminating critical positions or reducing school days. No one makes this decision lightly; we know the impacts on students when they lose a trusted adult who believes in them and their success. More days in school cannot compensate for the loss of a trusted adult who knows a child’s name and believes in their future,” Farrera said.
Under the order, even the districts that cut school days but still met or exceeded the minimum hours of instructional time — 900 hours for kindergarten through eight grade; 990 hours for ninth through 11th grade; and 966 hours for high school seniors — would need to revert back to the number of school days offered before any cuts were made.
Kotek is also ordering the immediate end to the state education department’s use of instructional time waivers that allow some districts to fall below the mandated minimum instructional hours, unless there is a declared emergency.
Oregon Capital Chronicle is a nonprofit Salem-based news service that focuses its reporting on Oregon state government, politics and policy.
Our Schools have really gone down the tubes, I remember when it was exciting to go to school, see your friends, many electives, art, music, swimming, sports, you never heard ever “school shooting” unheard of.
I think they need to eliminate all the homework, do the school work in school, smaller class sizes, allow for teacher assistants, go back to teaching kids the basics such as reading, writing, math, science, etc. computer skills, robotics, and bring back electives. Get the government out of the schools.