Education
Oregon attorney general joins states urging court to protect defrauded student borrowers
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and a bipartisan group of her peers are urging a federal appeals court to protect student borrowers from paying back loans from schools that made bogus claims. Rosenblum on Wednesday joined attorneys general from 22 other states and the District of Columbia in filing a brief with the Fifth Circuit […]
Governor’s education advisor will lead state teacher standards and licensing agency
Gov. Tina Kotek’s education advisor will soon lead the state agency in charge of licensing teachers and enforcing standards. The 17-member Teacher Standards and Practices Commission voted unanimously in a special meeting Tuesday to appoint Melissa Goff executive director for the agency. She’ll start Thursday. Goff replaces Anthony Rosilez, who was appointed by the commission […]
Student debt relief scams on the rise. Here’s what borrowers need to know.
Complaints about student debt relief scams are increasing as borrowers restart payment on their student loans this month after more than a three-year pause. Consumer protection advocates say that the Biden administration’s student debt relief efforts, the subsequent halting of those policies by the courts, and the restart of student loan payments have bred confusion […]
Assessment tests show little student improvement over last four years
Most Oregon students have not regained ground in key subjects following the COVID pandemic, but steep declines in English language arts, math and science proficiency that occurred during the pandemic are beginning to level off, according to the latest results from statewide assessment tests. Gov. Tina Kotek said in a news release that the latest […]
Teachers end strike at Vancouver’s Evergreen Public Schools
Around 23,000 public school students in the Vancouver area have headed back to classrooms after their teachers voted to ratify a new labor contract. Teachers at Evergreen Public Schools went on strike Aug. 30, the first day of scheduled classes for the school year, and were on strike for seven school days. Classes Monday were […]
Camas teachers vote to end strike
About 450 teachers on strike in the Vancouver area will soon return to classrooms after voting to approve a tentative agreement with Camas School District. As part of the deal, the district agreed to increase teacher wages by 13% over the next two years, reduce class sizes and establish a resource fund for libraries, physical […]
Classes delayed for 30,000 students as more teachers strike in southwest Washington
Special education teacher Angie Latange was one of 1,500 educators at Evergreen Public Schools in Vancouver on strike Wednesday. It was not her first time: Evergreen educators also picketed in 2018. But this strike, Latange said, feels different. “The energy is higher,” Latange said. “Last time, it was more … salary-based. This time, it’s absolutely […]
Teachers strike in southwest Washington delays school year for thousands of students
The start of the school year was delayed on Monday for about 7,000 students in Camas, Washington after 450 teachers in the district went on strike. This is the first time the teachers’ union has ever gone on strike in the district, which is located along the Columbia River, just east of Vancouver, Washington. The […]
Oregon Attorney General Rosenblum leads brief against religious school discrimination exemptions
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum on Tuesday led a group of Democratic attorneys general urging a federal appeals court to limit the ways that religious schools can discriminate against students based on their sex, sexual orientation and gender identity. Rosenblum and other attorneys general filed a brief in Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case Hunter […]
Two dozen Oregon school districts will split $53 million for summer, after-school programs
Thousands of kids across Oregon are guaranteed summer and after-school programs in the coming school year with millions in new federal funding. The Oregon Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that 25 school and education service districts around the state, along with the Boys & Girls Club and United Way, […]
Oregon’s new education leader wants more, diverse teachers to get students caught up from COVID
Charlene Williams is about a month into the monumental job of leading a state education department in the wake of COVID. She’s recently moved into the same office as her predecessor, Colt Gill, whose tenure as director of the Oregon Department of Education was defined by the public health threat of a lifetime and the […]
Turnover at the top: Nearly a third of Oregon school superintendents are in first or second year
Before Krista Parent got to the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators five years ago, she said no one was really tracking how many districts were hiring new superintendents. As COSA’s deputy executive director, Parent runs the organization’s New Superintendent Academy, which begins in the summer and supports both first- and second-year superintendents. “We’ve seen an […]