Gov. Kotek issues order prohibiting Oregon districts from reducing school days to cut costs
Oregon school districts would no longer be able to shorten the school year to cut costs, avoid layoffs and plug budget holes under a new order from the state’s governor.
Gov. Tina Kotek presented the order to the State Board of Education at its monthly meeting Thursday and asked the board to approve temporary rules requiring schools that have already cut school days this year for budgeting to add them back by the 2027-28 school year. She then asked the board to change state rules regarding instructional time, no longer allowing districts to cut instructional hours or to count teacher professional development or parent-teacher conferences as instructional hours.
“Too many Oregon students are not getting the time in the classroom they need to succeed,” Kotek said in a news release. “We cannot expect better outcomes if we continue to give our students less time to learn.”
Oregon has one of the shortest school years in the country according to a recent ECONorthwest analysis commissioned by the advocacy group Stand for Children. And Oregon students have some of the highest rates of chronic absenteeism in the nation, according to a recent analysis from the University of Oregon.
Portland, West Linn-Wilsonville, Reynolds, St. Helens, Lake Oswego and Beaverton schools have all cut school days during the most recent school year for budget reasons, according to OPB reporting. Portland’s cuts were made to help cover a $14 million budget shortfall.
Kotek in an FAQ accompanying the release of the order suggested she is open to tapping the Education Stability Fund to help districts with one-time budget issues so they can comply with the order. The governor has the power to declare an economic emergency and tap the fund, as does the state Legislature if two-thirds of each chamber agree to it.
“I know you’re working in a complex economic environment, and I know resources are constrained, and I know that the path forward won’t necessarily be simple or easy, but I also know, as you all do, that our kids are worth it, The future of Oregon is worth it and sometimes as leaders we must do the hard thing, especially when it’s the right thing to do,” she said at a news conference Thursday morning. “Sometimes, we’re going to have to work with what we have, and find a way forward.”
Under the order, even the districts that cut school days but still met or exceeded the minimum hours of instructional time — 900 hours for kindergarten through eight grade; 990 hours for ninth through 11th grade; and 966 hours for high school seniors — would still need to make up those cut days by next year.
Kotek is also ordering the immediate end to the state education department’s use of instructional time waivers that allow some districts to fall below the mandated minimum instructional hours, unless there is a declared emergency.
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Alex Baumhardt has been a national radio producer focusing on education for American Public Media since 2017. She has reported from the Arctic to the Antarctic for national and international media, and from Minnesota and Oregon for The Washington Post. She previously worked in Iceland and Qatar and was a Fulbright scholar in Spain where she earned a master's degree in digital media. She's been a kayaking guide in Alaska, farmed on four continents and worked the night shift at several bakeries to support her reporting along the way.
