By State Representative Rob Nosse
Welcome to part two of my columns on how lawmakers and advocates have been trying to make education better in our state over decades. I have been going through the legislative history of education policy making since the founding of the state but, really, I started my review with the 1980s and 1990s.
Last month, I left off in the year 2000 with the passage of Ballot Measure 1. That measure directed the legislature to appropriate each biennium a sum of money sufficient to ensure the state’s system of public education meets quality goals established by law, and to publish a report that either demonstrates that the appropriation is sufficient or identifies the reasons for the insufficiency. We have been arguing about what is “sufficient” ever since.
2001 was an important year in education. Under President George W. Bush, Congress passed the “No Child Left Behind Act,” which dramatically expanded the federal government’s role in holding public schools accountable for student performance and closing achievement gaps. This became an unpopular law, as the law took a punitive approach to a lot of aspects of education. It also really ramped up the use of standardized testing.
In 2002, Oregon voters passed Ballot Measure 19, establishing the Education Stability Fund. We fund this with lottery dollars. I am glad we did this. We have drawn from the fund four times since its creation. The first three times were between 2007 and 2013 for a total of $757 million to help Oregon weather tough budget times brought on by the Great Recession. We also tapped $400 million from the fund in 2020 to help us get through the economic challenges created by the COVID pandemic.
In the spring of 2003 here in Multnomah County, voters passed a temporary income tax to fund schools better for three years. “Better” meant not having to make large budget cuts in Portland Public Schools (PPS) because of the revenue challenges created by the dot-com bubble. This local measure was in reaction to the failure of a statewide ballot measure to temporarily increase the income tax rate to help balance state budgets.
In 2007, Oregon began the process of establishing the Oregon Diploma as part of public high school graduation. This was fully implemented in 2014 with students required to have a minimum of 24 credits in a variety of subjects. Much of this practice has been paused since the pandemic.
Around 2011, during his third term, Governor John Kitzhaber turned his attention to schools and started the Oregon Education Investment Board. This started the 40/40/20 goal where 40 percent of all students would graduate and go on to college and earn a four-year degree or higher, 40 percent earning a two-year associate degree or a short-term career/technical certificate and the remaining 20 percent would complete high school. I am honestly unclear if we are even aspiring to this anymore. Meanwhile, the Oregon Education Investment Board was repealed not too long after I joined the legislature.
In 2015, my first term, Congress passed the “Every Student Succeeds Act.” This law was intended to make changes to the shortcomings of “No Child Left Behind.” It shifted significant power back to the states. Oregon also passed our standardized testing opt-out laws.
In 2016, Ballot Measure 97 did not pass but it laid the groundwork for the Student Success Act which passed in 2019. Measure 97 would have raised billions in new money for schools. It led to the eventual passage of HB 3427, the Student Success Act, which raises over $1 billion a year for schools via a corporate activities tax. I enthusiastically voted yes and thought this was finally going to fix things. We were going to get close to the QEM and schools would have what they needed.
On March 12, 2020, schools were shut down for the pandemic. Our schools did not reopen until spring (March/April) of 2021. Oregon was one of the states that kept schools closed the longest. While schools were closed, the federal government kicked in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to help financially. We also paused Essential Skills Data collection.
In 2023, teachers at PPS went on strike for three weeks.
In 2025, the legislature passed SB 141, the K-12 Accountability Act. It does a lot of things, many that we are just starting to implement. In general, the focus is on establishing new accountability provisions and better applying accountability structures that were first established in HB 3427. Summarizing it is not easy. It is a 26-page bill, and features the Education Department, State Board of Education and the school districts all doing a lot of new things with standards around our school districts regarding on-time graduation rates, five-year completion rates, ninth-grade on-track rates, eighth-grade math proficiency rates, third-grade reading proficiency rates and regular attendance rates. Most education thought leaders believe these are among the most measurable things that predict student success in school, though there are likely some others too, such as kindergarten readiness.
As I conclude this, I realize I am going to need to write a part three for August; a back-to-school version where I tell you what I spent all summer working on with around school funding, policy challenges and what I think is in store for the 2027 session. Stay tuned.
