For the next
five years, an Oregon high school diploma will
be no guarantee that the student who earned it
can read, write or do math at a high school
level.
Gov. Kate
Brown had demurred earlier this summer regarding
whether she supported the plan passed by the
Legislature to drop the requirement that
students demonstrate they have achieved those
essential skills. But on July 14, the governor
signed Senate Bill 744 into law.
Through a
spokesperson, the governor declined again Friday
to comment on the law and why she supported
suspending the proficiency requirements.
Brown’s
decision was not public until recently, because
her office did not hold a signing ceremony or
issue a press release and the fact that the
governor signed the bill was not entered into
the legislative database until July 29, a
departure from the normal practice of updating
the public database the same day a bill is
signed.
The
Oregonian/OregonLive asked the governor’s office
when Brown’s staff notified the Legislature that
she had signed the bill. Charles Boyle, the
governor’s deputy communications director, said
the governor’s staff notified legislative staff
the same day the governor signed the bill.
Boyle said in
an emailed statement that suspending the
reading, writing and math proficiency
requirements while the state develops new
graduation standards will benefit “Oregon’s
Black, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Indigenous,
Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of
color.”
“Leaders from
those communities have advocated time and again
for equitable graduation standards, along with
expanded learning opportunities and supports,”
Boyle wrote.
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Lawmakers and
the governor did not pass any major expansion of
learning opportunities or supports for Black,
Indigenous and students of color during this
year’s legislative session.
The
requirement that students demonstrate freshman-
to sophomore-level skills in reading, writing
and, particularly, math led many high schools to
create workshop-style courses to help students
strengthen their skills and create evidence of
mastery. Most of those courses have been
discontinued since the skills requirement was
paused during the pandemic before lawmakers
killed it entirely.
Democrats in
the legislature overwhelmingly supported ending
the longtime proficiency requirement, while
Republicans criticized it as a lowering of
academic standards. A couple lawmakers crossed
party lines on the votes.
Proponents
said the state needed to pause Oregon’s high
school graduation requirements, in place since
2009 but already suspended during the pandemic,
until at least the class of 2024 graduates in
order for leaders to reexamine
its graduation requirements. Recommendations
for new standards are due to the Legislature and
Oregon Board of Education by September 2022.
However,
since Oregon education officials have long
insisted they would not impose new graduation
requirements on students who have already begun
high school, new requirements would not take
effect until the class of 2027 at the very
earliest. That means at least five more classes
could be expected to graduate without needing to
demonstrate proficiency in math and writing.
Much of the
criticism of the graduation requirements was
targeted at standardized tests. Yet Oregon,
unlike many other states, did not require
students to pass a particular standardized test
or any test at all. Students could demonstrate
their ability to use English and do math via
about five different tests or by completing an
in-depth classroom project judged by their own
teachers.
A variety of
factors appear to have led to the lack of
transparency around the governor’s bill signing
decisions this summer. Staff in the secretary of
the state Senate’s office are responsible for
updating the legislative database when the
governor signs a Senate bill. Secretary of the
Senate Lori Brocker said a key staffer who deals
with the governor’s office was experiencing
medical issues during the 15-day period between
when Brown signed Senate Bill 744 and the public
database was updated to reflect that.
Still, a
handful of bills that the governor signed into
law on July 19 — including a bill to create a
training program for childcare and preschool
providers aimed at reducing suspensions and
expulsions of very young children — were updated
in the legislative database the same day she
signed them and email notifications were sent
out immediately to people who signed up to track
the bills.
No
notification ever went out regarding the
governor’s signing of the graduation bill. That
was because by the time legislative staff
belatedly entered the information into the bill
database on July 29, the software vendor had
shut off bill updates to member of the media and
the public who had requested them. They cut it
off because of a July 21 system malfunction,
said legislative information services Systems
Architect Bill Sweeney.
-- Hillary
Borrud;
hborrud@oregonian.com; @hborrud
