School budgets in Oregon are under intense pressure. Student outcomes remain stagnant and frequently below national averages.

But the struggles of Oregon’s public schools competed for attention in the 2025 legislative session, as lawmakers debated a range of challenges — from wildfire and transportation funding to affordable housing to tensions with the Trump administration.

On one hand, lawmakers passed a historically high K-12 funding package, and they considered systemic changes to how the state funds education.

While major accountability, literacy and book ban bills passed, other controversial proposals — such as a statewide cellphone ban — died.

Some familiar patterns returned. In a time of uncertain state funding, higher education didn’t get the money that college and university advocates say is needed.

And repeatedly, legislators found themselves debating the boundaries between what state officials should do and what should be left to local school leaders.

A watershed moment for K-12 funding?

Lawmakers heavily debated how much money the state should allocate to its public K-12 schools, how that money should be distributed to the schools, and what is expected in return.

Since last year — and, in part, in reaction to Portland Public Schools’ major teacher strike in 2023 — Gov. Kotek has led a push to reevaluate how Oregon funds its schools.

Kotek proposed a way to restructure the state’s school funding formula and get more money to districts. Oregon legislators received a six-part report this session suggesting reforms they should consider.

For example, the report said they need to spend more money, yes, but they also need to be more strategic about how they use that money, especially for things like special education and disproportionate financial challenges faced by rural school districts.

Legislators made some progress on ever-present financial issues. One bill that passed, for instance, brought some one-time relief in response to rising state retirement costs.

When it comes to the main pot of money that Oregon school districts rely on for funding, lawmakers this session approved a record $11.4 billion for the State School Fund through Senate Bill 5516. School districts throughout the state rely on money from this fund to cover operational expenses, including everything from books and utility bills to teachers’ salaries.

The budget package represents a more than 11% increase from the last biennium, and it meets the “current service level,” meaning it should be enough money to at least maintain schools’ operations in spite of rising costs.

But some argue that estimate is already too low. Others say the funding calculation is too complicated or that it shortchanges rural schools. In the end, none of those complaints made a difference — the budget passed without big changes to how Oregon funds schools.

With more money comes more responsibility

Over the last decade, Oregon lawmakers have invested substantial amounts of money in K-12 schools. Increasingly, those investments have come through targeted initiatives aimed at achieving specific outcomes.

Measure 98 in 2016, known now as the High School Success Fund, provided grants aimed at career technical education and increasing graduation rates. The Student Success Act in 2019 established a new business tax and mapped out key priorities districts could use the money for, with a large focus on inequities in education. And in 2023, state leaders created the Early Literacy Success Initiative, which pushed for more consistent, science-based state standards to bring up students’ reading and writing skills.

And yet, years and a global pandemic later, things are not where anyone wants them to be.

Oregon schools continue to experience low test scores and stagnant graduation rates, along with high chronic absenteeism rates that exceed national averages.

That’s why Kotek, along with House and Senate leadership, pushed for Senate Bill 141 this session.

The idea is to create a new accountability system for Oregon schools.

Here’s how it works: State officials will lay out the metrics that every school district will be evaluated on. Districts will then set individual goals within those metrics — they are supposed to work with ODE to set “ambitious but realistic” growth targets. Then, the state will monitor districts’ progress. Lastly, the state will step in with a range of interventions as needed.

The bill would require the state to include metrics on third-grade reading scores, eighth-grade math scores, ninth-grade on-track rates, four- and five-year graduation rates, and regular attendance rates, focusing especially on grades K-2. It coincides with work at the state level to streamline ODE’s work to ensure state officials have the capacity they need to evaluate and support school districts.

The bill also requires Oregon school districts to review student data to understand disparities between different student subgroups. It specifically targets improvement for groups such as children from low-income households, students of color, students with disabilities, English language learners, foster children, and students experiencing homelessness.

And the bill calls for the state board of education to prioritize interim assessments. These are supposed to provide more real-time information than one-time, summative tests do. Many schools and individual teachers already administer interim assessments. However, the bill would make these more consistent across the state.

If a district isn’t meeting its goals, the bill gives ODE more teeth to step in.

After two years of not meeting the goals, ODE is supposed to step in with mandatory coaching. Prior to this bill, districts whose outcomes qualify them for state “intensive” support can choose whether to opt in — a provision that was designed and funded through the Student Success Act in 2019. As of this fall, only a fraction of the qualifying districts have taken the state up on its offer.

If a district fails to meet its goals for three consecutive years, ODE will provide more intensive coaching and offer more specific changes.

Should a district fall short of its targets for four or more years, ODE can control up to 25% of the money a district receives from two state funding sources: the State School Fund and the largest pot of money from the Student Success Act, known as the Student Investment Account. Under this part of the bill, state education officials can direct district money toward priorities the state sets.

The bill passed largely on party lines and was signed by the Governor this week.

Preschool for All under fire

Drama came at the end of the session this week as Oregon legislators considered a bill that would have ended Multnomah County’s Preschool For All program.

Multnomah County commissioners decried a last-minute amendment proposal to Senate Bill 106 that would have shuttered the county’s universal preschool program. County leaders argued the move undercuts voters and is based on outdated data.

The county’s Preschool for All program was overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2020. It’s funded through a personal income tax on the area’s highest earners.

But critics such as Kotek argue that the program’s tax rate on high-income earners is out of step with economic reality, and preschool slots are not being added quickly enough.

An amendment to Senate Bill 106, proposed late Monday night, would have barred the state’s largest county from enacting any income tax that funds no-cost preschool and early learning programs. It would have required Multnomah County to phase out the program over the next two years.

In the end, the bill didn’t move forward. However, Kotek gave the county a new deadline on Thursday to make changes.

While K-12 funding was prioritized during this session, early childhood education generally was not.

Lawmakers earlier this session passed SB 5514, a budget that slashed the state’s Department of Early Learning and Care budget by $45 million and halted new investments in programs like Employee Related Day Care, or ERDC, which helps working parents pay for child care. By late Thursday, the bill had been signed by Senate and House leadership and was headed to the governor’s desk.

“How many more times must we show up, speak out and spell it out before our lawmakers listen?” Marchel Kaleikini, co-chair of Child Care for Oregon, posed in a statement earlier this month. “Families are drowning. Child care providers are barely hanging on. And instead of throwing a life raft, our leaders are cutting the rope. It’s not just bad policy. Frankly, it’s a moral failure.”

College and university students shortchanged — again — for basic needs package

For the third straight year, student basic needs advocates tried to convince state lawmakers to pump more funding into aid that helps students pay for housing, food, textbooks and other college-related costs.

And for the third year in a row, the bills didn’t make it out of the session.

The Student Basic Needs and Workforce Stabilization Act — HB 3182 and HB 3183 — asked lawmakers to set aside $18.5 million to support students.

More than half of that amount, $10 million, would have gone to the already established benefits navigator programs. Another $6.5 million would have helped fund efforts to provide affordable housing for college students. Oregon’s public colleges and universities and nonprofits would have been able to apply for the funds through grant programs run by the Higher Education Coordinating Commission.

The remaining $2 million in the package would have boosted funding for the state’s Open Educational Resources program, which provides low-cost and free textbooks and learning materials for students throughout Oregon.

This effort came at a difficult time, as the Trump Administration considers eliminating federally funded student support initiatives that offer extra financial aid to low-income students.

Although these two bills didn’t pass this session, it’s possible some higher ed funding may make it through via House Bill 5006, or the “Christmas tree bill,” that legislators often cobble together at the end of a session to fund final spending initiatives.

A coalition of education groups, including the Oregon Education Association, Oregon Council of Presidents and the Oregon Community College Association, is advocating for lawmakers to boost basic student needs programs with a pared-down $6 million in the end-of-session bill.

Push to remove special education funding cap stuck in committee

Hundreds of teachers, parents and lawmakers advocated to remove the state’s special education funding cap that limits how much money districts can get to pay for these students’ needs.

Oregon school districts receive additional money through the state’s funding formula based on how many students with disabilities they serve. But the “SPED cap,” as it’s often called, limits how much they can get.

The state currently caps its additional funding for special education when the portion of students with disabilities in a district reaches 11% of total enrollment. However, the portion of students receiving special education services statewide is nearly 15% — more than 82,000 children in the 2023-24 school year. For some districts, the share of students with disabilities is even greater.

The cap has been around for decades but isn’t keeping pace with the need.

As a result, advocates say schools don’t have the money they need to properly serve students with disabilities without cutting into programs for other students — and it’s causing problems in the classroom.

The main bill discussed this session was House Bill 2953, which would have removed the cap entirely. Washington lawmakers removed their state’s special education cap this spring.

Eliminating the cap would help address a gap of roughly $700 million per biennium in special education funding. As it stands now, individual districts are covering that gap themselves.

Proponents of the bill have pointed out that there’s no other individual student subgroup that has a limit on how much money it can get from the state. However, removing the cap could cause other financial problems for school districts if the overall spending level isn’t also increased.

Despite momentum at the start of the session, other funding priorities won out this session. The bill got stuck in the House revenue committee.

Cellphone ban dies

House Bill 2251 would have required all Oregon school districts to ban students from using cellphones “bell to bell,” meaning from the start of the regular school day until the end.

Proponents of such a ban argue that cellphones in the classroom are, at best, a distraction. At worst, they say the devices contribute to bullying and mental health problems.

The bill passed the House in April but encountered opposition from some school districts that argued for the need to set their own limits on phone use and expressed concern that the bill would create a mandate they didn’t have the resources to enforce. Some parents were concerned that they wouldn’t be able to reach their children in the event of an emergency — a concern that has been expressed in school board rooms across the state.

Sen. Lisa Reynolds, D-Portland, a chief sponsor of the bill this spring, said she plans to bring it back next year. Gov. Kotek was also considering an executive order.

Second time’s the charm for book ban bill

School districts are not allowed to remove books based solely on the content being by or about members of a protected class. That’s the new statewide law, following the passage of Senate Bill 109, which has already been signed by Kotek.

Books can still be challenged on other grounds, such as whether they’re appropriate for that age group, for example. Individual parents can also opt their children out of certain books. But titles can’t be removed based on factors such as race, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or military status.

That’s important, as state trends often mirror national ones: The books most frequently challenged across the country are often by or about people of color, women and LGBTQ+ communities.

Oregon lawmakers came close last spring to passing a similar bill before it died last minute.

This session, parents again expressed concerns that the restrictions on book bans would lead to their children being exposed to inappropriate materials. But proponents of the “Freedom to Read” bill won out in the end.

Asylum seekers now qualify for in-state tuition

One group of aspiring college students scored a victory in Salem this session: Eligible asylum seekers can now receive resident tuition rates at Oregon’s public universities. The new law comes as the Trump administration is taking a harder line on immigrants and international students.

House Bill 2586 — in effect as of late May — allows individuals in the process of seeking asylum in the United States, who have not previously sought residency in any other state, to qualify for in-state tuition.

Oregon asylum seekers now join other people classified as U.S. non-citizens who have been eligible for resident tuition in the state since 2021. This group includes refugees with humanitarian visas, such as a Special Immigrant Visa, or people with Temporary Protected Status.

Two other states, Utah and Rhode Island, have passed similar laws in recent years.

“Asylum seekers come to America to escape war, genocide, political or religious persecution, gang violence, or other horrors,” said Rep. Zach Hudson, D-Troutdale, earlier this session. Hudson was a chief co-sponsor of the bill.

“America has a history of welcoming the dispossessed,” Hudson said, “and although it has not always lived up to that promise, it’s still an ideal we hold dear.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/06/27/school-funding-college-costs-and-book-bans-what-did-lawmakers-do-for-young-people-in-oregons-2025-legislative-session/