Education
Early child care shortages in Oregon costing parents jobs, survey finds
Public funding to boost early child care options in Oregon has grown by millions during the past few years, but options are still limited for many parents who are forced to choose – and lose – jobs, according to a survey from Portland State University. More than 40% of parents said they or their partner […]
Oregon governor signals state funding to schools must improve following Portland teachers’ strike
The conditions that led to Portland’s first teachers’ strike reflect historic and statewide issues that need to be addressed by state leaders, according to Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek. “We’re going to step up and have a different conversation in the coming year,” she said at a news conference Tuesday. To start, Kotek laid out four […]
What state lawmakers should learn from the Portland teachers strike
The Portland teachers strike sent a message to state lawmakers who hold the purse strings for Portland and the state’s other 196 school districts: You can’t keep writing checks for our schools without getting more involved in how those checks are spent. Portland teachers managed to force changes in the district’s budget, boosting their salaries […]
Schools spent little of $19 million from state on substitute teacher training
When Debbie Fery started hearing this year from substitute teachers who had not been paid for time spent taking mandatory trainings, it felt personal. Fery, treasurer and chair of government affairs for the Oregon Substitute Teachers Association, and a substitute teacher herself, took her own fight to get paid for a required safety training to […]
Brownies, drums and solidarity on the picket line
I am a 10th grade English teacher at Franklin High School, and Friday is our 13th day of striking. Based on my experience on the picket line, I believe our strike is well understood, but there are also wildly varying accounts of what the sentiment is among teachers. The public deserves to know more about […]
Oregon Republicans plan legislation to ban teacher walkouts as Portland strike continues
As the Portland teachers’ strike continues into its third week, a trio of Republican lawmakers plan to introduce a bill banning teachers from striking. The proposal from Reps. Vikki Breese-Iverson, Jami Cate and Christine Goodwin, all rural Republicans, will almost certainly be dead on arrival in the state Capitol, where Democrats supported by the Oregon […]
At issue in Portland teachers strike is a policy that harms Native students
Entering into the third week of no school in the Portland Public School District, the main points of contention in the historic Portland teachers strike are wages and class sizes. But teachers and the district are also wrestling over another contract provision — a policy that results in dramatically higher rates of suspension for Native […]
State lawmakers say they met Portland school demands for money as teachers strike
State Democratic leaders say they’ve given educators, including Portland Public Schools, the money they asked for and that it will be up to the administration and unions to figure out how to use the money to meet demands of striking Portland teachers. At a news conference on the fourth day of the Portland Public Schools’ […]
State money isn’t coming to end Portland teachers strike, lawmakers say
As Portland Public Schools teachers strike for a second day in a row, key Democratic lawmakers say not to expect Salem to come to the rescue. Legislators responsible for crafting Oregon’s education budget say they’ve been caught in the middle in recent weeks, as Portland teachers fight for pay increases and class size reductions, and […]
Oregon state officials urge Portland Public Schools, educators to reach a deal to end strike
With Portland Public Schools teachers striking for the first time in history, Oregon’s top elected officials urged the union and district leaders to bargain in good faith. The strike started on Wednesday, with about 3,500 teachers joining the work stoppage in the state’s largest school district, serving more than 40,000 students. Educators are on strike […]
Student absenteeism high as Oregon districts attempt to normalize going to school every day
Oregon students appear to be making some progress, but state and local education leaders are concerned about high absentee rates amid new data showing a sharp decline in regular school attendance among Oregon students since the pandemic. The number of Oregon kids regularly attending school last year dropped by nearly 20 percentage points from pre-pandemic […]
Oregon students won’t have to show added proficiency in basic skills through 2028 to graduate
Oregon high schoolers will not need to fulfill an essential skills requirement in order to graduate for at least the next five years. The Oregon Board of Education on Thursday voted unanimously to pause a decade-old requirement that students show additional proficiencies in reading, writing and other skills on top of taking regular courses in […]