Inspiring Oregonians… to do what it takes to make ourschools among the nation’s best.

CLASS Project Meeting • May 30, 2007

An Initiative of Foundations for a Better Oregon

2007 Chalkboard legislative priorities

• Ensure educator excellence

• Create early learning success• Increase efficiency, accountability and savings through

better financial practices

• Strengthen school funding

An Initiative of Foundations for a Better Oregon

THE ISSUE: Highly qualified teachers arecritical to raising student achievement

• Provide each new teacher and principalwith mentors

• Establish statewide public/privatepartnership to strengthen ongoingprofessional development for educators

House Bills 2574 (mentoring) and 2614 (prof. development)Status: 2574 passed House Education Committee, budget passedby Joint Ways & Means Committee; 2614 passed HouseEducation Committee, pending in Ways & Means

An Initiative of Foundations for a Better Oregon

Oregon Collaborative forEducational Excellence• Independent, public/private partnership• $1.2 million committed by state; foundations will match• Provide infrastructure for research- and standards-

based professional development for teachers andadministrators

• Will work in partnership with many stakeholders tosupport high-quality teaching and school leadership

• Tangible results will include:• 6 regional professional development centers, using existing

infrastructure• Web-based virtual learning network• Standards for high-quality, job-embedded professional

development• Guidance and support for new mentoring program

An Initiative of Foundations for a Better Oregon

THE ISSUE: Students must be readersby the end of third grade or face longodds in school and life

• Reduce class size to 15 students in K-1

• Provide a reading tutor to every childnot reading at grade level in K-3

• Provide placeholder funding for full-daykindergarten and future middle/highschool interventions

House Bill 2612, Senate Bill 318Status: Joint Ways & Means Committee included performancemeasures in school improvement fund budget; SB 318 includes“soft targeting” of school improvement funds

An Initiative of Foundations for a Better Oregon

THE ISSUE: 40% of Oregonians believeschools already have all the money theyneed, and just need to be more efficient

• Identify and share best financialpractices with all districts, andmonitor all districts regularly

• Restructure transportation fundingformula to encourage more busingcost efficiency

House Bill 2613, Senate Bill 47Status: Joint Ways & Means Committeeadded transportation study to ODE budget; amendments toSB 47 still pending

An Initiative of Foundations for a Better Oregon

THE ISSUE: Oregon has one of the mostunstable school funding structures in thecountry; 82% agree that instability is an obstacleto school success

• Establish guaranteed level of per-studentspending that maintains current servicesand invests in more research-provenpractices

• Double the size of the state’s schoolstability fund, and use a combination ofsources, including the corporate kicker,to fill it

House Bill 2615Status: Rainy day fund passed and signed by governor, HB 3338 provideslegislative study on per-student funding

An Initiative of Foundations for a Better Oregon

Lessons learned

• Forces promoting status quo are formidable; moreresearch needs to drive process

• Progress made to support teachers, stabilize funding andtake modest steps toward more financial accountability

• Work is incomplete -- much more to accomplish in nextlegislative session and beyond

Chalkboard will be back!

An Initiative of Foundations for a Better Oregon

Other updates

• CLASS Project moving forward

• Phase 2 of the Open Book$ Web site launching soon(www.openbooksproject.org)

• New partnership with OASBO to develop and share bestfinancial practices for running school district businessoperations

An Initiative of Foundations for a Better Oregon