District leaders say Oregon school reform plan gets the details wrong

An ambitious effort by Gov. Tina Kotek to have the state hold struggling schools accountable is getting pushback from school leaders, who say her plan won’t help students.

Salem-Keizer School District Superintendent Andrea Castañeda is among a group raising concerns about the governor’s proposal. They say it relies on unproven methods and lacks key details to help districts and schools make meaningful progress.

“It is almost entirely unclear to superintendents how this will work,” Castañeda said in an interview.

Kotek’s plan, released Monday, is paired with an effort to significantly boost school funding. The governor said the twin proposals are intended to mix badly-needed resources with accountability.

“I don’t believe in writing a blank check, and I don’t believe in accepting the status quo when it comes to delivering for our students,” she said.

The effort includes two bills that would require districts to set goals for improving student reading and math scores on standardized tests, graduation rates and attendance and other metrics.

Districts that fail to hit their goals would be required to get state coaching after two years intended to identify and implement improvements district leaders can make. Such help is currently optional. 

After four years without improvement, the state could direct to other purposes up to one quarter of a school district’s state funding. That would be about $150 million per year for Salem-Keizer.

Castañeda, who helped design school accountability systems in Rhode Island, said many of the governor’s ideas are already being done in Salem-Keizer. Those include using data throughout the school year to identify struggling students and involving local school boards in setting and monitoring goals.

But she said there’s no data showing coaching by state officials works to help struggling schools better serve students.

“There is no proven model for directed coaching. There is no proven model for punitive financial intervention. Those are elective choices that this legislation has adopted and there are alternatives that are just as bold, just as serious, just as complicated, but there is a playbook for making them work,” she said.

The Oregon Department of Education is new to such coaching, leaders told legislators on Monday, and launched a program in 2022. Making such coaching mandatory would require a large expansion of the department.  Only four districts are currently receiving coaching.

A Kotek spokeswoman said early data shows some improvements in participating districts, such as an increase in the share of freshman on track to graduate high school in the Reynolds School District.

States that have shown across-the-board improvement in helping students learn to read, such as Mississippi and Louisiana, have typically done so by requiring schools to adopt curriculum that’s been proven to work. They also ensured that teachers and school leaders receive training and support, Castañeda said.

Castañeda outlined some concerns with the proposal while testifying Monday to the House Education Committee.

Many of those concerns were echoed by leaders of the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators along with other advocates.

Allowing the state to take control of school funding would require districts to violate agreements with employee unions, administrators said. Close to 90% of Salem-Keizer’s money goes to pay salaries and benefits for employees, nearly all of whom are covered by union contracts.

Castañeda called the idea that the state could step in to direct spending that’s required by contract “troublingly naive or deeply hubristic.”

Kotek waved off such concerns during a press conference Monday, saying her goal was that no district would require state financial intervention.

“I don’t believe that the dollars spent on salaries are somehow external to actually getting outcomes for our students. This is about, how do you plan as a district to utilize every resource to march in one direction,” the governor said.

A spokeswoman said the state would not withhold money, but would instead work with district leaders to identify how to best spent money to meet improvement goals.

“The Governor is committed to being a strong partner to districts to help our students succeed. She looks forward to working closely with school administrators, educators, education experts, and Oregon families as the work goes on to renew the accountability system,” Kotek spokeswoman Roxy Mayer said in an email.

Castañeda said she hopes to work with Kotek and legislative leaders to design meaningful accountability for schools. 

Kotek is also working on administrative changes at the Education Department to reduce the number of reports and grants required of districts. Castañeda said that streamlining an ambitious task that will require deep cultural changes at the education department.

“If that can be done by September, we will all be grateful and impressed,” she said.

Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.

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