Oregon students appear to be making some progress, but state and local education leaders are concerned about high absentee rates amid new data showing a sharp decline in regular school attendance among Oregon students since the pandemic.

The number of Oregon kids regularly attending school last year dropped by nearly 20 percentage points from pre-pandemic levels, according to new data from the Oregon Department of Education. About 62% of Oregon students attended 90% or more of school days during the 2022-23 school year and nearly 40%, on average, missed at least 16 days out of 160 or more days. During the 2018-19 school year, about 80% of students attended class at least 90% of the year. Students who attend at least 90% of the time are considered to have regular attendance.

Absenteeism rates are highest in kindergarten, early elementary grades and among high school seniors, according to state data and the districts. Educators say absences in the younger grades can have the most impact. shows students who are chronically absent in preschool, kindergarten and first grade are much less likely to read at grade level by third grade, making them four times more likely to drop out of high school than proficient readers.

The data was released as part of the Oregon Department of Education鈥檚 At-A-Glance Profiles of districts, which combine state assessment test scores with other district and school health measures, such as the number of experienced teachers, school mental health staff and librarians in buildings, and the number of high school freshman who are on track to graduate in four years.

The latest profiles show that steep declines in student comprehension in core subjects during the pandemic are , as well as the number of students on track to graduate in four years. It also shows that schools are hiring more teachers and behavioral health staff to help with the recovery. But the most unmovable setback since COVID hit seems to be regular school attendance, especially for kids in the earliest grades

鈥淲e know that students aren鈥檛 benefiting from instruction when they are not in the classroom, so this is a serious concern for Oregon鈥檚 educators,鈥� officials at the Oregon Department of Education said in a news release. Agency officials and district leaders have different hypotheses as to why regular attendance has declined so sharply.

鈥楩inancial burdens鈥�

Charlene Williams, director of the Oregon鈥檚 state education agency, said she鈥檚 hearing from districts that the rise in chronic absenteeism is due in part to students missing school days if they or a family member get COVID, as well as the loss of pandemic-era financial and housing support for families.

鈥淭hose financial burdens are landing back in the laps of some of our families, and they are struggling once again in some cases with food insecurity and finding stable housing and those kinds of things,鈥� Williams said in a news conference prior to the data release.

The Capital Chronicle reached out to dozens of superintendents across the state, who echoed a common theme 鈥� the pandemic changed families鈥� attitudes about compulsory school attendance.

Tom Rogozinski, superintendent in the Warrenton Hammond School District on Oregon鈥檚 northwest coast, said the increase in absenteeism stems in part from students or family members getting COVID. But he said the biggest change is a shift in how families and students perceive the responsibility of attending school regularly.

鈥淩eentry to school every day, five days a week, has been an adjustment for kids and families and for whatever reason it feels like that old given 鈥� that we鈥檙e going to school everyday 鈥� is not as fully entrenched,鈥� he said.

More than one-third of students in kindergarten, first grade and second grade in the district were chronically absent last year, mirroring statewide absenteeism rates.

Rogozinski said about 95% of absences in his district are excused. Big districts have teams that visit homes to increase attendance but Warrenton Hammond is a small district. Still, he said teachers and principals visit homes when a student has missed a significant chunk of school time to try to get them back to class.

鈥淭here used to be more force with truancy laws to render a fine or a judgment,鈥� Rogozinski said, noting that students no longer face those kinds of consequences.

Several superintendents bemoaned the Legislature鈥檚 decision in 2021 to end laws allowing districts to fine parents, or to have judges and truancy courts mandate students attend school, if they鈥檇 missed a significant number of days.

George Mendoza, superintendent in the La Grande School District in eastern Oregon said in an email that using judges and fines was not 鈥渁 top tactic or strategy鈥� for getting kids to school but that without it, 鈥渋t does erode our highest levels of accountability.鈥�

During the latest legislative session, an 18-member taskforce was created to submit by September 2024 alternative ideas for boosting student attendance statewide.

Rebuilding relationships

In Hermiston, Superintendent Trisha Mooney said teachers and coaches in her district are trying to rebuild relationships and connections with kids that remote learning impaired.

鈥淪ome kids will show up for one thing 鈥� for band, a sport, a club 鈥� that gets them coming to school. That鈥檚 the connector that gets them building those habits,鈥� she said. 鈥淜ids have to learn that it鈥檚 important to be part of something bigger than you, and that others are relying on you to show up. That other people are counting on you.鈥�

Administrators from the Central School District in Independence, the Beaverton School District and Willamina School District in Yamhill County said boosting regular attendance was a top priority this school year.

Those districts and others are using resources linked to an initiative called Every Day Matters, spearheaded by the state department of education and funded with $6 million by the Legislature in 2016, to boost attendance. The initiative involves officials meeting with students and families to address the root causes of chronic absenteeism. Funding was paused at the onset of the pandemic but resumed this year. Districts can use the money to hire community-school liaisons, advocates and counselors to work more closely with students and families to get kids back in class.

In the Bethel School District in Eugene, superintendent Kraig Sproles said part of its strategy to boost attendance has been hiring more mental health professionals.

鈥淲e have seen an increase in the number of students seeking support for issues related to anxiety and depression. We know that mental health issues not only impact student learning, but also can impact school attendance. While we have always had students who struggle with mental health, the number and severity of the issues have greatly increased,鈥� he said in an email.

In the past, mostly older students suffered anxiety and depression but he said district officials are now seeing younger students also struggle.

Graduation rates

The percentage of ninth graders on track to graduate within four years is nearing pre-pandemic levels. Statewide, about 84% of the class of 2026 is headed towards graduation.

Several districts, including Bend-La Pine, Medford, Springfield, South Umpqua and Lebanon, made significant gains in ninth grade on-track performance. Dan Farley, assistant superintendent of the education department鈥檚 research and data accountability office, said school administrators in those districts created teams of counselors and teachers to review student data and target gaps in credit attainment and attendance to get students on track.

Some schools also hired 鈥渃ultural liaisons鈥� who speak other languages than English to work with students and their families to make sure they knew about credit and graduation requirements. Some districts also offered more classes and programs to count toward graduation requirements, as well as expanded after-school tutoring and summer school options.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e either expanding, adding or shifting to give students different and additional opportunities to learn,鈥� Farley said.

About 56% of Oregon鈥檚 class of 2021 enrolled in college within 16 months of graduating, down from 63% before the pandemic. That follows a national trend: Nationwide, about 62% of 2021 high school graduates enrolled in college, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. During the last decade, undergraduate enrollment in colleges nationwide has declined 15%.

Williams, the new education director, said the Oregon鈥檚 Higher Education Coordinating Commission has found that tighter budgets and soaring prices in recent years and the high costs of tuition has affected college enrollment rates.

鈥淪tudents just really wanted to put college on pause, you know, while they could figure out their lives,鈥� Williams said.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lynne Terry for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com. Follow Oregon Capital Chronicle on and .

A $120 million initiative to boost literacy would be one of the single largest investments of its type in Oregon history if it passes.

But during a public hearing for the proposal at the House Committee on Education on Monday, critics said it doesn鈥檛 go far enough and risks wasting money without stricter spending rules.

At the end of the hearing, the committee unanimously approved the initiative, moving it to the budget-writing Joint Ways & Means Committee. It would be the seventh major initiative attempting to raise reading proficiency for Oregon youth by the state or federal government since the late 1990s.

The Early Literacy Success Initiative, , is sponsored by Gov. Tina Kotek and a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Democratic Reps. Jason Kropf of Bend and Ricki Ruiz of Gresham, and Republican Reps. Bobby Levy of Echo and Mark Owens of Crane.

The bill would create three new grant programs to help school districts pay for K-3 reading tutors, teacher training in reading instruction, new reading curricula and summer reading programs.

It would make Oregon part of a nationwide movement promoting the 鈥渟cience of reading.鈥� The movement promotes reading instruction methods rooted in phonics to change persistently low student reading proficiency.

Since 1998, just over a third of Oregon fourth graders have shown proficiency in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test, the nation鈥檚 report card. Yet decades of research shows more than 90% of kids can learn to read if they are taught with methods rooted in research about how the brain learns to decode written language. This research is based on decades of evidence that shows most people need to be taught the 44 sounds in the English language and how to map those sounds to letters and letter combinations to decode words. In essence, that means learning to 鈥渟ound it out鈥� and to recognize sound and letter patterns in words.

Yet literacy teaching in Oregon and in many other states has been largely based on the belief that reading comes naturally to the human brain and that children can learn to read if they鈥檙e surrounded by good books and given techniques beyond sounding out words, including guessing or using pictures.

Under the proposal, districts would need to comply with a rule that all materials, curricula and instruction be rooted in the 鈥渟cience of reading鈥� to receive grant funding. The Oregon Department of Education and the State Board of Education would be responsible for determining whether districts were in compliance.

Wide support

Schools nationwide received federal COVID-19 relief money to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students at the height of the pandemic. But those funds when Congress .

Now, individual states are figuring out how to move forward.

Oregon has taken a few steps forward and a few steps back this legislative session when it comes to plans to feed the state鈥檚 550,000 students.

would have created a permanent pot of money for universal school meals but it was reduced to a task force before its first hearing, with lawmakers claiming not all schools could scale up that quickly.

Rep. Courtney Neron, D-Wilsonville, who chairs the House education committee and is one of the bill鈥檚 seven chief sponsors, said it was difficult to curtail the proposal.

鈥淲e understand how critical it is for all children to have adequate nutrition, and we want to make that (happen) as soon as possible,鈥� she told the House committee earlier this month.

As it stands, the bill calls for a recommendation by the task force by September 2024 of how to implement universal meals statewide. It is scheduled for a committee vote on Wednesday. The Oregon Department of Education estimates it would cost between $145 million to $377 million to do so in the 2023-25 biennium.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week announced a new proposal that could significantly increase the number of Oregon schools that qualify for federal reimbursements for meals.

Importance of meals

The Oregon Food Bank estimates more than 114,000 children in Oregon live in households that struggle to afford food. Having access to enough nutritious food can have a big impact on a child鈥檚 ability to socialize, focus on their studies and perform academically.

鈥� shows that students who eat breakfast and lunch at school do better,鈥� said Matt Newell-Ching, senior policy manager for the Oregon Food Bank, when testifying to state lawmakers on March 15. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of odd that we treat school meals differently than we treat other key educational elements within the school environment.鈥�

Oregon has been a leader among states when it comes to food access in schools, and in recent years, it鈥檚 doubled the number of students who get it.

In the past, about 25% of Oregon schools provided free breakfast and lunch to all students. They did so because they qualified for federal assistance. Now 55% do, thanks to the passage of the state鈥檚 Student Success Act in 2019, which is partly dedicated money for meals.

In some cases, entire districts feed students. Salem-Keizer Public Schools 鈥� the second largest district in Oregon with more than 40,300 students 鈥� is the largest district in the state to offer universal meals.

About 84% of Salem-Keizer students are considered to be . But proponents of these programs say helping all students reduces the stigma around hunger and poverty.

Other states

Some states 鈥� Colorado, California and Maine 鈥� have permanent, universal school meal programs. And at least 21 states are drafting similar legislation this session, including Minnesota lawmakers, who advanced the day before Oregon鈥檚 first hearing for House Bill 3030.

Additionally, starting in the 2023-24 school year, will automatically qualify for free or reduced-price school meals.

But what Oregon lawmakers and advocates are paying the most attention to is the U.S Department of Agriculture鈥檚 new proposal, released last week, which would expand the number of schools that are eligible to get federally reimbursed for providing meals via the , also known as CEP.

The provision allows the nation鈥檚 highest-poverty schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without needing applications. Schools are reimbursed using a formula based on the percentage of students eligible for free meals because of their participation in other benefit programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently to expand support for and access to school meal programs, including awarding $10 million in grants for schools to expand nutrition education and a that would lower the threshold for schools to gain access to federal funding.

Advocates say these changes could allow hundreds more schools in Oregon to provide universal meals, but the state will still need to pay more to cover the gap between what the districts, state and federal governments each contribute.

such as the Oregon Food Bank are support an omnibus spending bill, , to allocate more money from the state鈥檚 general fund to the Oregon Department of Education to help cover these costs and incentivize schools to take advantage of the new offerings.

House Bill 5014 had a public hearing last Thursday before the joint subcommittee on education. It is not yet scheduled for a work session.

鈥淚 have lots of optimism that there is momentum growing for universal school meals in Oregon,鈥� Newell-Ching told the Capital Chronicle. 鈥淚t鈥檚 no longer a question of if we鈥檒l get there, but (when).鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lynne Terry for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com. Follow Oregon Capital Chronicle on and .

Gov. Tina Kotek kicked off her first term this year with an especially big goal 鈥� to revamp the way Oregon teaches children to read and write.

Less than half of Oregon students can read and write at their grade level. This has a substantial impact on the students individually and on society.

Kotek is urging lawmakers to approve plans to change Oregon鈥檚 approach to literacy education.

would award grants to improve early literacy in schools and communities across the state, and would establish the Early Literacy Success Initiative. The initiative would primarily provide coaching, materials and training to educators to improve literacy education before third grade and create literacy-focused tutoring and summer school programs.

Kotek and Rep. Jason Kropf, D-Bend, who spoke to the state House education committee Monday for an informational hearing, want the proposals merged into .

The package would launch a multi-year effort aimed at helping parents, teachers and community groups better serve students. They want to increase early literacy for students in prekindergarten through third grade so students can read at grade level by the end of third grade, or for students who are English language learners, by the end of the fourth grade.

They also want to reduce literacy and graduation disparities and increase the state鈥檚 overall graduation rate through these efforts. Oregon鈥檚 four-year high school graduation rate was 81.3%.

鈥淚t鈥檚 clear we have a problem in Oregon,鈥� Kotek told the committee. 鈥淭his problem didn鈥檛 arrive overnight, and we are not going to solve it overnight.鈥�

Students failing

The ability to read and write proficiently is vital, but Oregon is failing significantly.

Less than 40% of Oregon third-graders met the state standards when tested in English Language Arts. That number is even lower for historically marginalized students, dropping, for example, to 23% for students in foster care, 21% for Black or Latino students, 20% for students with disabilities and 8% for English language learners.

As children learn to read, they build on skills and strategies. They learn 鈥減honemic awareness,鈥� which the as the ability to manipulate individual sounds in spoken words, as well as 鈥減honics,鈥� which is when we correspond sounds and spellings with syllable patterns to read written words.

They learn fluency and decoding, vocabulary and reading comprehension, and more.

鈥淭eaching reading is very complex,鈥� said Sarah Pope, executive director of the nonprofit , in her testimony to the committee. 鈥淪ome have even likened it to neurosurgery.鈥�

Though reading and writing skills are measured throughout K-12 education, results in third grade 鈥� the first time students are tested by the state 鈥� are an important indicator of future success.

Not only is it the time when students stop 鈥渓earning to read鈥� and start 鈥渞eading to learn,鈥� as by Annie E. Casey Foundation鈥檚 Abel Ortiz, but also researchers have also found that students who can鈥檛 read at聽 grade level by third grade are to leave high school without a diploma.

This makes them less likely to be gainfully employed, and more likely to rely on public welfare or become incarcerated.

According to the , full-time workers with a high school degree earn about 24% more than those without one, and research shows students who do not complete high school are more likely to experience poor health and premature death.

Pope said the proposal could 鈥渜uite honestly change people鈥檚 lives.鈥�

Early literacy package

Kotek and Kropf, along with agency officials and advocates who also supported the early learning plan in testimony, want to focus on helping teachers, families and community organizations in addition to the students themselves.

鈥淲e are often quick to identify and label individual kids as 鈥榮truggling.鈥� But the incredibly high number of kids not reading at grade level tells us we need to take a more critical look at how we are teaching literacy,鈥� Kropf said in his testimony.

鈥淥ur educators do amazing work, oftentimes under very difficult circumstances,鈥� he added. 鈥淭his legislation is about giving our educators the training, support and resources they need and want to best help our kids learn to read.鈥�

Part of Kotek鈥檚 plan is to support parents as their children鈥檚 first teachers. Knowing children develop communication skills from birth, Gabriela Hernandez-Peden, program director of the Spanish-language preschool program Juntos Aprendemos in Central Oregon, told lawmakers, 鈥淓ducation starts five years before they actually end up in the school system.鈥�

Kotek also wants to train educators across the state to use 鈥渆vidence-based鈥� instruction once the students enter school. This typically refers to a large body of research known as 鈥渢he science of reading,鈥� which is about how the brain learns to read and write, and what instruction is most effective. Literacy advocates have argued before that school curricula don鈥檛 always come from a scientific foundation or that educators are not always properly trained to teach them.

Kotek said it鈥檚 important the state provides teachers with ongoing, high-quality, culturally relevant coaching to help them improve, and so they can create school-wide systems to sustain those changes.

鈥淲e owe it to educators to prepare and support them for all of what we ask of them,鈥� she said.

The other aspect of the proposal would lead the state to create summer programs that focus on early reading and writing skills in ways that relate to students鈥� interests and minimize the perception of summer school as punishment. Kotek said 鈥渉igh-dosage tutoring鈥� should also be available for students who need extra support.

Though the education committee members generally indicated their support for improving the state鈥檚 literacy education, Rep. Emily McIntire, R-Eagle Point, expressed concerns over regulating the initiative and the cost. Rep. Tracy Cramer, R-Woodburn, questioned whether the proposal could change teaching in schools that are performing well. And the committee鈥檚 vice chair Rep. Boomer Wright, R-Coos Bay, said he wanted to ensure there was enough money to pay for it. The state, he said, has a history of requiring more from schools but underfunding them.

Kotek鈥檚 staff told the Capital Chronicle her goal is to have a public hearing in the next few weeks when the package is finalized. Bills need to have a work session for a vote scheduled by March 17 to move ahead in the legislative process, but budget bills and rules鈥� proposals are exempt from that deadline.

鈥淎s we learn from other states about what works,鈥� Kotek told the committee, 鈥渨e must recognize that building and implementing an intentional, thoughtfully designed and comprehensive strategy will take more than one bill, budget line or legislative session.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lynne Terry for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com. Follow Oregon Capital Chronicle on and .

Teens, mental health care professionals and crisis-line volunteers told state and federal leaders that youth need access to more culturally relevant mental health care and better communication about what services exist.

Addressing these two issues would go a long way toward combating a youth mental health crisis that has grown in the wake of the pandemic, they told Gov. Tina Kotek and Xavier Becerra, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The group convened at Faubion School in northeast Portland on Monday afternoon to discuss mental health issues facing students and resources available through state and federal dollars. Also present at the K-8 school were representatives of Portland Public Schools and the University of Oregon鈥檚 new Ballmer Institute for Children鈥檚 Behavioral Health. The institute was set up to address the lack of mental health care professionals by placing its first class of 200 undergraduates into Portland Public Schools as interns in the fall of 2023.

A survey of about one-third of Oregon students conducted in 2020 by the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Department of Education found nearly half felt sad or hopeless for more than a two-week period. And a report released in August by the found that the number of Oregon children struggling with mental health issues grew from 11% in 2016 to 16% in 2020.

Jaiyana Jones, an eighth grader at Faubion, said during a roundtable discussion that COVID and social media have increased mental health suffering among students over the last few years. She said some who don鈥檛 feel comfortable talking with counselors and school staff turn instead to abusing substances. Tanvi Vemulapalli, a volunteer for the nonprofit crisis hotline Lines for Life, said a lack of supportive adults is the number one reason young people say they call the hotline.

鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the biggest things, the lack of comfort reaching out to someone,鈥� Vemulapalli said.

As a Black student, Jones said it would be helpful to have more Black counselors and mental health staff. 鈥淧eople who share some of what you experience,鈥� she said.

Jeida Dezurny, a member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and a youth representative of the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, said there is a generational and cultural disconnect among many Native American youth to mental health care services. In the absence of more Native mental health care providers, Dezurnby said she and her colleagues have focused on training Native adults from all walks of life to talk with young people about suicide, opioids, mental health, sex and other topics that can feel uncomfortable to discuss.

鈥淲e start teaching the caring adults, the educators, the guardians, the community members,鈥� she said, asking them: 鈥淗ow do you address mental health? We know that you probably have never addressed it in your life, and that鈥檚 OK, we鈥檙e gonna get past it, we鈥檙e going to educate you.鈥�

To combat nationwide shortages of school counselors, psychologists and social workers, Becerra said the federal human services department is planning to launch a scholarship program that would help pay for graduate studies for people hoping to become mental health care professionals. In exchange, they would need to commit to three to four years of work in the field.

Becerra also touted the federal government鈥檚 investment in the launched in July, which connects callers and texters to counselors trained in helping people in a crisis. Becerra said the Biden administration is investing $500 million over two years to get the line established nationwide, but states will need to provide their own funding to sustain the service.

鈥淚 think it鈥檇 be a great challenge for the youth who are in this space to convince the leaders in your state 鈥� because there are only a few states today that actually provide a steady stream of money 鈥� to keep the 988 lifeline going,鈥� he said.

In Oregon, Lines for Life oversees the service except in Marion and Polk counties, where Northwest Human Services is in charge. Kotek鈥檚 includes adding a fee of 40 cents per cell line to sustain the 988 Lifeline into the future.

The Legislature is considering several bills to target the mental health care workforce shortage and improve access to mental health care in schools.

Two bills, and , would require Portland State University and Southern Oregon University to educate and graduate more public mental health and addiction treatment providers over the next five years. would require every school district to ensure every school has a mental health professional and nurse.

In 2019, the state allocated more than $1 billion to the Student Success Act, which helped pay for mental health care in schools. Additionally, Oregon received millions from the American Rescue Plan during the pandemic, with directives to use some of it for mental health staff and programs.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lynne Terry for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com. Follow Oregon Capital Chronicle on and .

Oregon鈥檚 pandemic home-schooling boom is beginning to cool off, new state data shows.

The number of students taught at home this year is down about 7.5% from last year in 14 of the state鈥檚 19 Education Service Districts that responded to Capital Chronicle data requests and that track total home-school enrollment at the beginning of the school year. Parents who choose to home-school their kids must report their intent to do so with one of the state鈥檚 19 regional districts, which cover all 197 school districts in the state. The service districts coordinate certain services and resources that are more cost-effective to share between multiple districts.

Home-school enrollment among those districts is still about 40% higher today than it was in 2019, before the pandemic moved classes online for over a year.

Parents don鈥檛 have to report why they are choosing to home school when they register, but Rosalyn Newhouse, a volunteer with the Oregon Homeschool Education Network, said many members of the group鈥檚 Facebook page have discussed why they haven鈥檛 sent their kids back to school.

鈥淧eople who became involuntary home-schoolers during the pandemic said, 鈥榃ow, I didn鈥檛 realize my kid was under so much stress,鈥欌�� Newhouse said. 鈥淎 lot of parents are saying, 鈥楢ctually, this has worked out really well for us and we鈥檙e going to stick with it.鈥欌��

Between 2019 and 2020, the number of students registering for home schooling in Oregon shot up about 71%, from just over 18,000 to more than 31,000.

It was part of a nationwide trend. Between the spring of 2019 and the fall of 2020, the number of students registered for home schooling across the country doubled, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Among Black and African American students, the number taught at home quintupled.

Data from 18 states analyzed recently by The Associated Press shows a slight decline in home-schooled numbers since the pandemic, about 17%, but not a return to pre-pandemic levels.

In six of the 14 districts the Capital Chronicle reviewed, the number of home-schoolers is still up 30% or more from pre-pandemic levels. In two districts 鈥� the Columbia Gorge and South Coast 鈥� the number enrolled today has sunk below pre-pandemic levels.

In Oregon, the numbers have increased the most in the most populous districts.

In the Multnomah Educational Service District, which oversees Centennial, David Douglas, Parkrose, Corbett, Gresham-Barlow, Portland Public and the Riverdale school districts, the number of home-schoolers is up about 2% this year, and remains up about 422% from pre-pandemic levels.

In 2019, 725 students in the Multnomah district were enrolled in home school. Today, about 3,800 are 鈥� nearly 4% of the district鈥檚 estimated 100,000 students.

Newhouse said the numbers tend to be highest in counties such as Washington and Multnomah where parents have more resources for home schooling.

鈥淲here the populations are larger, there are more opportunities to hook up with other home-schoolers, so it’s easier to form a community,鈥� she said.

Home-schooled students still make up a relatively small portion of the overall student population in the state. Even with the boom in 2020, the number enrolled in home schooling was about 5% of the state鈥檚 total student population.

Home schooling in Oregon involves little oversight. The Oregon Department of Education recommends content standards and a framework for teaching at home on its website, but parents aren鈥檛 required to use it. Students need test for comprehension in major subject areas at grades three, five, eight, and 10. When it comes to earning a diploma at graduation, it鈥檚 up to local high schools to decide whether to award one.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lynne Terry for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com. Follow Oregon Capital Chronicle on and .

One thing that stuck out to Republican candidate Tracy Cramer in talking to voters in Woodburn, Gervais and Salem, Oregon, recently was how upset parents still felt about how K-12 education was handled during the pandemic.

She said they were frustrated with long school closures and concerned about some lessons overheard or seen in online classes.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 believe the amount of parents I鈥檝e talked with who have pulled their kids out of public schools to find alternative sources,鈥� said Cramer, the Republican nominee to represent Oregon鈥檚 22nd House District, which runs from Woodburn through north Salem.

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Capitalizing on parent frustration with schools during the pandemic, several Republican candidates are platforming nationwide calls for 鈥減arents鈥� rights鈥� and school choice. They want curriculum posted online and for parents to be able to opt out of certain lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity. Many oppose lessons they feel are too closely tied to critical race theory, an academic framework that looks at the roles of race and racism in U.S. history, law and institutions. They also want taxpayer dollars to flow to private and religious schools.

The candidates hope championing these issues in their campaigns will galvanize voters. It鈥檚 a strategy that鈥檚 been tested by Republican candidates in other states, with varying degrees of success.

In 2021, Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin鈥檚 win was attributed by many to his outspoken opposition to the teaching of critical race theory and his commitment to expanding charter schools in the state. In Oregon in 2021, some conservative school board candidates won after campaigning against critical race theory, mask and vaccine mandates and what they saw as heavy-handed state control in education curriculum.

But some experts are skeptical about how effective criticizing public education is as a political wedge to help candidates win, especially in Oregon.

Christopher Stout, an associate professor at Oregon State University who researches and teaches about politics with a focus on race, gender and public opinion, said interest in education wedge issues tends to be temporary. They can also alienate undecided voters that Republicans are hoping to win, and the more moderate Republicans the party might be hoping to win back, he said.

鈥淚 do think some of the voters that conservatives are trying to win back don鈥檛 see some of these issues like critical race theory and sex education as, as big of threats as other issues,鈥� Stout said.

Defining the issues

Kori Haynes, the Republican nominee to represent Oregon鈥檚 39th House District in Clackamas County, said voters in the county want more control over what their kids are learning at school.

When classes went online, more parents saw what was being taught.

鈥淲e kind of got a glimpse of what was behind the curtain as far as what our children were learning,鈥� Haynes said. 鈥淚t raised a lot of questions around the content.鈥�

An example she offered was learning about gender and sexuality in classes other than health, as well as lessons in which students might be asked to consider topics differently based on their ethnicity and skin color. That, she said, is critical race theory by another name.

鈥淐RT is definitely still in our schools,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of sneaky because it鈥檚 called DEI: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.鈥�

Haynes wants a 鈥減arents鈥� bill of rights鈥� that requires schools to post curriculum for all classes online, that outlines what information parents are entitled to from public schools and that allows parents to opt out of some lessons.

Oregon schools are to share course information and instructional materials with parents who request it, according to Peter Rudy, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Education. Parents can also make a public records request. When it comes to sex education, parents are allowed to opt out by filling out a form on the department鈥檚 website and submitting it to their child鈥檚 school.

Both Haynes and Cramer believe taxpayer dollars should be allowed to go towards charter, private and religious school tuition. Oregon public schools get about $12,450 per pupil from the state.

鈥淭he money should follow the student,鈥� Cramer said.

But Cramer would not comment on whether those private, religious and charter schools should have to follow the same state and federal laws as public schools to accept and educate all students who show up, without question.

Several attempts over the last few years to get a ballot measure in front of Oregon voters that would amend the Constitution and allow taxpayer dollars to go to private and religious schools have failed to get enough signatures for approval by the Oregon Secretary of State鈥檚 Office.

School board elections

In Oregon, recent school board elections have served as a litmus test for the success of education wedge issues in political campaigns.

In 2021, an influx of conservative candidates bolstered by donations from Oregon Right to Life 鈥� a nonprofit anti-abortion group affiliated with the National Right to Life Committee 鈥� ran and won seats on several school boards statewide. The anti-abortion group is opposed to teaching sex education in schools, and it rallied around candidates who were also opposed to mask mandates and wanted curriculum posted online out of fear that critical race theory was being taught.

It was part of a conservative takeover of school boards that swept the country in 2021, according to Stout.

鈥淐onservatives have been much better than liberals at focusing on local elections,鈥� he said.

鈥淯p until then, I think people largely ignored those races.鈥�

In some districts with new conservative majorities, superintendents were ousted by their boards for complying with mask and vaccine mandates. And in Newberg, the board ousted its public schools鈥� superintendent for pushing back on the board鈥檚 attempt to ban pride flags and Black Lives Matter signs in classrooms.

In some school board races, appealing to voters on such issues was unsuccessful.

When Sami Al-Abdrabbuh, a member of the Corvallis School Board, ran for reelection in 2021, his opponent campaigned under education wedge issues such as 鈥減arents鈥� rights,鈥� and claimed student equity and inclusion policies were distracting the teaching of basic subjects.

Al-Abdrabbuh won the race. He credits his success with telling voters that equity and inclusion policies are about making students feel safe at school and talking with them about how school choice would pull money from public schools.

鈥淭aglines expire after election day, but public schools have been and continue to be the lifeblood of our democracy,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hese wedge issues might motivate voters in one election. But long term, voters will see these issues are hurting public schools.鈥�

The risks

According to answers from a questionnaire by the conservative political action committee Oregon Mom鈥檚 Union, 48 out of 50 Republican candidates running for state office support school choice; allowing Oregon students to enroll in any public school in any district; removing the cap on the number of students in each district allowed to join virtual charter schools; requiring all class curriculum be available on school district websites; and ensuring 鈥渢he fundamental right of parents to be the principal decision-maker for their children鈥檚 education.鈥�

David Kilada, who runs Intisar Strategies, a political consultancy, is working with a number of these Republican candidates on their campaigns. Many of them have made criticizing current education policies and the teaching of critical race theory major issues in their campaigns.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a big issue on the north coast, in the Salem area. Statewide it鈥檚 a concern for voters,鈥� Kilada said. 鈥淎nd nationwide. You saw the Glenn Youngkin election in Virginia.鈥�

Candidates are also using education issues to criticize their Democratic opponents. In one Cramer鈥檚 opponent Anthony Medina, a Woodburn School Board member, is accused of disrespecting parents because he voted against a school-choice measure.

鈥淭he crux of the issues for both very conservative voters as well as those in the middle is about parents having to make a big stink about an issue for it to be addressed,鈥� Kilada said.

鈥淚 think that the last two years and what happened because of Covid highlighted many of the existing problems.鈥�

Kilada and the candidates he represents say that parents want more control over where their kids go to school, what their tax dollars are spent on and what their kids are being taught.

Stout, from OSU, said there is an underlying resentment and distrust of public schools post-pandemic that could work in Republican鈥檚 favor.

鈥淧arents were upset about school closures and the impact on their personal and professional lives,鈥� Stout said.

In 2020, white, college-educated women began drifting from the Republican Party. Stout said channeling frustrations with schools among that base might be a way to bring them back to the party, but it could backfire.

鈥淎t the same time it鈥檚 mobilizing your base, it also has the power to alienate others and to mobilize them against you,鈥� Stout said.

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