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QuickTake:
The governor highlighted Bethel School District’s summer reading program as a model for improving literacy scores.
Gov. Tina Kotek held a ceremonial signing of four education bills on Thursday, July 31, at Bethel School District’s Prairie Mountain School, highlighting the district’s summer literacy program in the process.
Oregon House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, Bethel superintendent Kraig Sproles and Whitney Grubbs, executive director of Foundations for a Better Oregon, also spoke at the event, along with a Bethel educator, a parent and fifth-grader Stanley Smith.
Before signing the bills, Kotek toured Bethel’s Summer Reading Program, which offers intensive reading instruction to students in kindergarten through third grade. Last year, 25% of students who attended achieved a level of reading where they no longer needed intensive instruction.
Schools nationwide have struggled to bring kids’ reading abilities up to grade-level after pandemic learning losses, and Oregon is no exception. Even before the pandemic, Oregon reading scores consistently ranked lower than the national average in the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Kotek, an advocate for early literacy, wants Bethel’s program to be a model for other districts around the state.
“It’s always helpful, as us stodgy adults, to be reminded of what we’re fighting for, why we show up every day to do the work we’re doing,” Kotek said. “To see the individuals doing the work today, to see the educators, to see the students — they (bring) to life the laws that get passed in Salem.”
Bill breakdown: What Kotek signed
Here’s a breakdown of each of the four bills Kotek was highlighting:
- Senate Bill 141: This bill will implement a statewide accountability system that requires districts to set goals within metrics already collected by the state (test scores, attendance rates, graduation rates) and track districts’ progress. It will also standardize the practice of giving interim assessments throughout the year, which most districts already do, to measure student progress. If districts do not meet goals, the bill gives the Oregon Department of Education additional power to intervene. The bill will also get rid of redundant reporting practices for district leaders.
- House Bill 2140: The bill clarifies how the state calculates the State School Fund, the chunk of money that is distributed to public schools statewide. This will make funding more predictable for school districts as they build their budgets.
- House Bill 3040: The bill will build on the Early Literacy Success Initiative passed by the Legislature in 2023, mandating that early-grade staff in districts that get Early Literacy School Grants will receive professional development and coaching in research-based early literacy strategies.
- House Bill 3037: The bill will streamline and simplify the reporting and grant application paperwork for small districts in the state.
Kotek on legislation, back-to-school topics
Kotek spoke about the legislation she signed into law and other education-related topics at the Thursday press conference, including her stance on Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers showing up to schools.
In response to a question about the harshest consequences of SB 141’s accountability measures that would allow ODE to redirect 25% of a district’s funds to prioritize improvement if the district fails to meet its goals for four or more years, Kotek said she hopes no school will ever reach this point.
“It’s not about the state taking over a district,” Kotek said. “It is about the state and the district sitting down and saying, ‘Look, for whatever reason, you’re just not hitting your mark, what can we be doing differently?’”
The governor also addressed concerns about ICE activity at schools. After the Trump administration made it legal for immigration officials to arrest individuals near schools earlier this year, a father in Beaverton who was detained by ICE officers outside of his son’s preschool in July was the first confirmed ICE arrest near a school in Oregon. Kotek said the state and the Oregon Department of Education is working with school districts to educate leaders and families on the laws around ICE detentions and immigrants’ rights.
“It is not OK to be standing outside of people’s schools, looking to catch parents in front of their children,” Kotek said. “That is something new in this country. We have had places in our country — our churches, for places of worship, our schools — where that was not an acceptable thing to do. And that situation that happened out in Washington County, we’ve got to keep that from happening elsewhere, because it does send a chilling effect for our families.”
