Politics & You
Historic Virtual Legislative Session Presents Multitude Of Challenges BY LAURIE WIMMER / OEA Government Relations Consultant
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ne of the most noteworthy impacts in this historic year of coping with COVID-19 in Oregon has been the absence of armies of public policy advocates, legislative staffers, and other employees in Oregon’s iconic art deco state capitol. The 81st Legislative Assembly, now at the halfway mark, has been conducted entirely online, with the presence of legislators and a skeleton staff only, safely distanced, allowed in the building. Even so, two cases of infection have stalled work in the House. All committee hearings, work sessions, and floor sessions are accessed through Teams or on the Oregon Legislative Information System (OLIS) platforms, and all communication outside of committee and floor sessions are accomplished through Zoom, Teams, phone calls, or emails. The tradition of pulling legislators off the chamber floor to count votes or pitch an idea, as well as quick hallway conversations for the same purposes, have evaporated from the public-contact playbook. Despite this, OEA’s lobby team has worked diligently and creatively to ensure that education policy and budgets reflect the values of our 41,000 members. Key to our work has been an emphasis on meaningful equity-related policy. Advancing our members’ agenda has been challenged by the sheer volume of work, as the 60-member House of Representatives and 30-member Senate consider 2,465 bills and resolutions in a five-month session dominated by four topics: COVID-19, wildfires, racial equity, and economic recovery. Some highlights of OEA member priorities include the following:
K-12 and Community College Funding
In mid-March, the budget-writing cochairs of Ways and Means released their “framework” budget for the coming two-year
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TODAY’S OEA | SPRING/SUMMER 2021
$9.1 billion
The amount proposed for the State School Fund budget. In reality, $9.6 billion is the amount needed to fund Oregon's 197 school districts and 19 educational service districts.
$673 million
The amount proposed for the Support Fund for Oregon's community colleges. A true current-service level funding request, continuing programs into the next biennium without cuts, is $703 million.
biennium. Characterized as a starting point, this budget fails to fund either K-12 or community colleges adequately. The K-12 “State School Fund” is the flexible, locally allocated operations budget that forms most of the resources school districts use to run schools. To do that without cuts in the next two school years, $9.6 billion is the budget that Oregon’s 197 school districts and 19 education service districts (ESDs) need. Instead, the co-chairs proposed a $9.1 billion State School Fund budget, though it held harmless two grant programs — the Student Investment Account in the Student Success Act and the High School Success Act (Measure 98) — which are earmarked grant funds, not operational resources. The $500 million difference between what is proposed and what our students need is equivalent to losing half of K-12’s share of the newly created Student Success Act. Community colleges were also disappointed by the co-chairs’ framework. A true current-service level funding request, continuing programs into the next biennium without cuts, is $703 million in the Support
Fund. The co-chairs have proposed just $673 million, which fails to compensate for revenues lost to pandemic-related attrition.
Class Size and Caseloads as a Mandatory Subject of Bargaining
Making its fourth appearance before the Legislature is a toppriority OEA bill to ensure that our members have the right to discuss class size and caseloads at the bargaining table as a part of our advocacy for members and their students. A bipartisan effort to move SB 580 across the finish line has added momentum this year.
Part-time Faculty Health Care
Also facing tough sledding — a theme for OEA this session — is another bill we’ve requested several times. Part-time faculty who work full-time at several institutions but who still do not have access to health insurance would be covered by SB 551. Ironically, the fate of this bill may be in the hands of a physician legislator, who has not agreed to support this essential protection for higher education contingent faculty. Member advocacy and action opportunities will emerge in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.
Limiting For-Profit Virtual School Enrollments
Five bill and two amendments to legislation seek to lift the cap on transfers to forprofit online schools. Currently, more than 20,000 students have enrolled in virtual schools statewide. These programs have poor records when it comes to educational quality, diversity, and transparency. For every
