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Superintendent Kraig Sproles contacted the governor’s office and the Oregon Department of Education after his district narrowly missed the cutoff for the grant awards. And the state later awarded grants to four more districts, including Bethel, at Gov. Tina Kotek’s urging.
Last week, the Oregon Department of Education announced the school districts to be awarded three-year summer learning grants. Included were Eugene 4J, Springfield, Mapleton, Oak Ridge, South Lane, Pleasant Hill and Fern Ridge. Missing from the list: Bethel School District.
The news was a surprise to Superintendent Kraig Sproles, who takes pride in the district’s summer learning program, focused on early reading and writing skills. Administrators from several other districts have visited the program, looking to replicate it for their own students. Gov. Tina Kotek lauded it as an example during a visit last year.
A scoring system for the grants awarded points for equity-based factors, including percentage of students below reading level, and for a program’s design and success. Bethel ranked just below the cutoff for districts receiving funding.
Out of 143 districts that applied and 106 that were initially awarded grants, Bethel ranked 109. Liz Merah, spokesperson for the Department of Education, said the state received summer learning grant requests totaling $49 million, but only had $35 million to give.
Sproles, however, felt Bethel should have been ranked higher than 109.
“I understand that there were preference ratings given based on the size of the district and the demographics,” Sproles said. “But to think that somehow we didn’t get it based on the quality of the program, that was a harder pill to accept.”
Bethel tied, points-wise, with four other districts for the last spot on the state’s list and perhaps due to the sheer number of students served, Springfield Public Schools was given the spot.
This triggered Sproles to make a series of phone calls to Salem and coordinate with the Douglas County and Hermiston School Districts to try to convince the state to award more money for summer learning — specifically, the other four districts that tied with Springfield and were the next-highest ranked. Sproles said through Kotek’s direct advocacy, the state extended funding to all four districts, using unused funds from the previous year.
In a press release Thursday, the Oregon Department of Education announced the additional grant awards for Douglas, Hermiston, Bethel and Corbett. The state awarded $900,000 to Bethel.
The department “will continue to monitor fund usage closely and plans to ask for unspent funds if necessary to support additional districts and students,” the release stated.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the state has ramped up its funding of summer learning, first to help schools recover from learning loss, and then, starting in 2025, to target early literacy learning.
Last year, state funding expanded access to Bethel’s summer literacy program from just kindergarten and first grade to kindergarten through third grade, serving 400 students. According to the district, the program — which runs for six weeks, four days a week for 4½ hours a day — resulted in 25% of participating students not needing intensive reading support by the end.
Sproles advocates at the state level for many educational issues and programs, including summer learning, but said it’s hard to know when politicians are listening.
“I was just really impressed that the director at the Department of Education picked up the phone and had conversations with me, and the governor’s education secretary related this news up to the governor directly,” Sproles said. “So it did take a concerted effort, but it was also their willingness to listen and to hang in there and find a solution.”
Bethel will use the $900,000 for its summer literacy program and its summer program for select incoming kindergarten students. Sproles said they may also use the funds for the district’s high school credit-recovery program as they’ve done in years past.
