The short session of the Oregon Legislature adjourned last Friday after 33 days of work that drew mixed reviews from lawmakers and Capitol regulars. The most common complaint was that the liberal bill introduction policy brought back legislation that failed to make the grade in the last regular session, which ended less than a year ago. Reaction isn’t much different from that given to relatives who over stay their visit or fish too long out of water.

The reruns were joined by a few hot button topics like marijuana, guns, land use and a replacement bridge on the Columbia. These are the kind of issues that tend to grab the headlines and suck the air out of a hearing room.

For education funding and policy committees, there was not a lot of drama or suspense. There was, though, some foreshadowing for the 2015 Session.

Money wasn’t a problem. Districts will get 51% of the State School Fund next year with an additional $100 million thrown in at the end of the 2013 Session. The roll up for next biennium will be based on that higher, second year number. It looks very unlikely that the kicker will kick as the state’s economy makes a slow and steady recovery.

Debate over the State School Fund, which will be taken up in the long session next February, will have the traditional focus on its size with the added dimension of how it is spent. A peak through that curtain was in SB 1528, a bill aimed at getting more funding to Long Term Care and Treatment programs.  Traditionally the programs have been funded through the state General Fund as Grants-in-Aid. The bill proposed to remove that source, place the whole thing into the State School Fund, triple weight the available program spaces and require that the new weighting be spent exclusively on these students. The bill was ultimately referred to the task force that’s been meeting on State School Fund issues over the past year.

Another signal on proposals that could change the way the school fund is distributed has come from the Oregon Education Investment Board where outcomes-based funding is getting a full discussion. This is likely to have an impact on whether spending mandates will be attached  to additional funding for the increased weight added to kindergarten students (taking them from a half weight to a full weight) in the next biennium. OEIB has expressed substantial interest in focusing funding on third grade literacy, which is seen as an outgrowth of additional kindergarten funding. English as a second language is another program where proponents of narrowing the state’s achievement gap among students in this category have looked closely at district spending patterns associated with these programs and the amount of money generated by the additional half student weight in the Funding Formula.

HB 4150, the Oregon Education Association’s priority bill of the short session, passed with substantial amendments. At its core, it was a response to proficiency education policies being adopted by local districts. Generally, it made very clear that proficiency grading or reporting systems are a local decision and in no way mandated by state law. Confusion over this issue had resulted in legislators facing criticism in local communities where this is being tried and the suggestion that it was as a result of  the passage of HB 2220 in the 2011 Session. It also added required consultation on the programs with district staff members through an advisory committee set up by the superintendent.

The bill also mandated a review by ODE of the impact of the requirement that students meet Essential Learning Skill Standards on student graduation rates and future prospects if the requirement impacts not only graduation but the type of diploma issued to them. This was brought on as legislators discovered that modified diplomas were barring students from federal financial aid programs and joining the military. It’s likely there will be changes in diploma-related legislation in the next session.

The legislature also approved changes to the open enrollment/inter-district transfer statutes, HB 4007, clarifying specific issues involving students’ ability to stay in schools they are attending as transfer students. Mainly the bill took care of some glitches in the program but a COSA work group is currently doing an in depth review of the policies around student choice and is expected to make substantial recommendations for legislation in the next session creating a clearer path for student decisions  while recognizing impacts on local districts.

The legislature also continued a trend related to low performing or focus schools, the lowest performing 15% of schools receiving Title I funding. In HB 4117, programs already providing extra funding to these schools are extended to an additional 19 schools that fit this performance profile but hadn’t yet been included. This bill allocated $500,000 to add teachers and summer school programs. It looks likely that this investment in summer school programs for low performing schools or student populations traditionally underserved or at the bottom end of the achievement gap will recur in future funding plans.

Next session, the Oregon Education Investment Board will come before the legislature for reauthorization. Two bills this session, one from OEA and the other from OSBA, sought to have up to five slots on the board designated for educators and a school board member. Both failed. Both organizations have indicated that without members representing them on the OEIB, they may not be willing to support its renewal, which sunsets in 2016. Conversations since the session ended last week indicate there may be some support for turning the board’s duties over to ODE among members of the legislature. This could shape into a major showdown with Gov. Kitzhaber, who is a strong proponent of the OEIB.

There was a whole batch of other bills that represent one-off fixes that don’t appear to represent anything like a trend or portent of things to come. Some of the bills passed and some failed and those will be covered in the legislative report from COSA and OSBS and cover issues like school mascots, radon testing and sharing school blueprints with local police agencies.