Oregon Republicans push education wishlist in state Senate amid walkout fallout
(The Center Square) – Oregon Senate Republicans have laid out the education bills they want to see passed this session by the same body they walked out on earlier this week.
Hours after boycotting a Senate floor session Thursday morning, the Oregon GOP Senate Caucus laid out 11 education bills centering on student tax credits, school enrollment, curriculum, and tuition relief for foster parents.
In a joint statement, Oregon Senate Republicans took shots at the state’s slow progress reopening its K-12 schools, about 80% of which remain closed.
Gov. Kate Brown turned over the decision to reopen to school districts late last year, but the Oregon GOP has argued the governor should reopen schools now.
“No child should be trapped in schools that don’t meet their needs,” Senate Minority Leader Fred Girod, R-Lyons, said. “There is no reason that our schools should still be closed. Both the Biden Administration and the Center for Disease Control say it is safe for schools to reopen. The Governor has failed to act, now it is up to the legislature to act boldly for our students.”
The CDC’s current guidelines, however, recommend that schools resume in-person learning regardless of vaccination rates among staff and students. The COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are not approved for children under age 16.
When pressed during a Friday news conference about why an executive order mandating schools reopen was not on the books, Brown maintained that school districts were the best judges of public safety.
“It’s my expectation that for school districts around this state that meet the metrics, that we begin in-person instruction for elementary students,” Brown said. “I fully expect school districts around the state to continue to move forward and provide in-person instruction.”
About 7.7% of the state of 4.2 million have gotten both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Friday, the CDC’s COVID Tracker showed, while another 18% have received at least one dose.
One bill from Girod offers $1,000 in tax credits for joint filers making $120,000 per year to cover homeschooling costs. Another would offer tax credits for people paying off student loan debt.
Three bills from state Sen. Dennis Linthicum, R-Klamath Falls, would create a state savings account program for student grants, permit students to attend any public school regardless of zip code, and allow more students to virtually attend private schools.
A bill from state Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, would provide tuition remission for the natural children of foster parents based on the years the parents participated in foster care. Three to five years of foster care would result in a waiver of 30%, state analysts calculate.
In their statement, Oregon Senate Republicans also stressed the state’s poor historical graduation rates which only reached an all-time high of 82% last year.
The statement also referenced a University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business study which presumed students stand to lose as much as $15,000 in lifetime earnings from learning loss.
Brown agreed on Friday that reopening schools should be at the top of Oregon’s to-do list, but she stressed it would take a full Legislature to combat the state’s converging crises—the pandemic, the recession, and the fallout of last year’s wildfires.
“I expect elected officials, regardless of party affiliation, to show up and do their work,” Brown said.
It’s not certain whether Oregon Senate Republicans will be back by next week’s scheduled floor session where some 4,000 bills await action. State lawmakers have more than four months to go until the 2021 session adjourns on June 28.
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