OSBA representatives to join school funding webinar series Aug. 19

Published: August 13, 2024

Oregon is rumbling with discussions of a seismic shakeup of school funding in the 2025 Legislature.

The Oregon PTA is working to inform advocates for those debates through a series of webinars. On Aug. 19, OSBA Legislative Services Specialists Efren Zamudio and Adrienne Anderson will offer the school board view.

Since March, the Oregon PTA has hosted "From the Capitol to Our Classrooms - Championing Investments in Public Schools." The free webinars have offered discussions with experts from the Legislature, the Quality Education Commission, school finance and governance, and advocacy.

"It's about bringing people together and organizing for next year," said Robin Roemer, Oregon PTA vice president for legislation.

Oregon PTA, a network of parents, works at the local, state and national level to support and improve Oregon schools.

School board members direct school spending, setting education goals and approving budgets, and OSBA is a leading advocate for fully funding schools. Zamudio said many school board members are seeing the effects this year of insufficient state funding as they wrestle with shortfall budgets calling for layoffs and program cuts.

The 2025 Legislature will likely be facing a tight state budget and lots of competing interests, Zamudio said.

"We will need all hands on deck in 2025 to get the funding our students and schools need to thrive," Zamudio said. "Most school boards are made up of parents, and legislators listen to parents talking about their kids."

Roemer said the PTA has three main goals for the series:

• To demystify the school funding process and trace the way money moves from the state to schools.
• To build relationships among advocates and decision-makers.
• To create a space where people can talk about the big decisions coming in 2025.

The series will likely continue into October, Roemer said, with at least three more guests agreeing to talk.

Roemer said that a through line of the discussions is that Oregon needs to honestly account for school costs such as facilities and school-year length to truly offer a high-quality education to all students.

Zamudio and Anderson will touch on the recent release of the Quality Education Model, one vision for Oregon's schools and their cost, as well as share some views from the Capitol's halls.

Anderson said that understanding the state's education funding process is an important step toward effective advocacy.

"It's a complicated system, but the end goal is simple: full and reliable school funding so our children can thrive," Anderson said.

- Jake Arnold, OSBA
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