Education
USDA appoints longtime energy consultant to lead powerful Rural Development office in Oregon
Margaret Hoffmann advised the U.S. Department of Agriculture soon after Joe Biden became president that she wanted to lead its Rural Development office in Oregon. A longtime energy consultant and adviser, Hoffmann hoped to run an office that helps direct hundreds of millions of dollars a year for rural energy conservation, broadband, job creation and […]
Graduation rate news may disguise what’s really happened to Oregon students
We learned last week that Oregon’s high school graduation rate for the class of 2021 was not as bad as many had feared. It declined by just two percentage points, from a high of 83%, after a full year of shuttered classrooms and disrupted learning. Was this good news or bad for our pandemic-forced experiment […]
Oregon secretary of state rejects petition to get school choice on ballot
Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan rejected a petition Wednesday to get a school choice measure on the November 2024 ballot because it was not specific enough to one issue. The proposed measure included changes to the Oregon Constitution that would allow parents to choose any school for their child and provide state funding for […]
Despite challenging school year, Oregon graduation rates dropped only slightly
The state’s average four-year high school graduation rate fell just two percentage points during the last school year despite major hurdles to instruction from the pandemic, according to data released Thursday by the Oregon Department of Education. The average four-year graduation rate in the state went from 83% for the class of 2020 to 81% […]
DeFazio will try a last time to ease debt burden on college borrowers, expand Pell
Each year since 2016, U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, Democrat from Oregon, has proposed lowering student debt and expanding the federal Pell grant for low-income students. His legislation has yet to pass. In his last year representing the state’s 4th Congressional District before retiring after 36 years, DeFazio will try one last time. He announced Wednesday […]
Large Oregon districts skipped ‘emergency’ teachers even as staff shortages grew
Last October, the state came to the rescue of school districts by opening the way to get people into classrooms who weren’t necessarily teachers by degree or training. But data from the state Teacher Standards and Practices Commission show that the state’s largest districts didn’t grab the lifeline even as they closed down in recent […]
Oregon scholarship for community college disproportionately going to wealthier students
Money to help Oregon high school seniors pay for community college has been disproportionately flowing to students with the least financial need. At a Senate Education Committee meeting Jan. 12, Juan Baez-Arevalo, the director of the Office of Student Access and Completion at the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, told lawmakers that the Oregon Promise grant […]
New recommendations limit contact tracing in schools to exposure in cafeterias, band, sports
New guidance from the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Department of Education could end contract tracing when a student tests positive and was in close proximity to other students as long as all were wearing masks. In an email sent Friday, the director of the state Education Department, Colt Gill, advised schools that they […]
State will add nearly 2,000 new contract professionals to ease overburdened hospitals
Oregon officials are working to discharge hundreds of hospital patients who have been languishing and taking up critically-needed beds because the care they need in the community isn’t available. The move is expected to free up hospital beds for the still-growing influx of Oregonians so ill with coronavirus they need hospitalization. State officials said Thursday […]
Oregon students to get debt canceled and a payment over deceptive loan practices
More than 5,000 Oregonians whose student loans were managed by Navient, one of the nation’s largest loan servicing companies, will receive part of a $1.85 billion settlement after it was found that the company participated in unfair and deceptive practices. Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, announced the settlement today, along with 38 other states attorneys general. […]
Legislators consider shielding school superintendents from rash school board actions
Leaders from the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators and the Oregon School Boards Association are asking legislators to protect superintendents from some firings and require greater oversight and training for those serving on school boards. The proposals respond to several recent high-profile firings of school superintendents by their boards for enforcing mask and vaccine mandates, […]
State senator launches campaign for Oregon students denied class time due to language, disability
State Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin, D-Corvallis, launched a statewide campaign Monday to collect accounts of Oregon students who have been denied equal time in their schools during the pandemic due to disability, a need for behavioral support or a need for English Language Learner services. She hopes to use the material from the #AllMeansAll campaign […]