The U.S. Department of Education recently told state officials they would not receive nearly $3.5 million in COVID-era, congressionally appropriated dollars for improving student reading and math skills
By Natalie Pate, Oregon Public Broadcasting
The U.S. Department of Education is rescinding nearly $3.5 million in funds already appropriated by Congress to improve Oregon students’ literacy and math skills.
The Oregon Department of Education announced the cuts on Tuesday, saying they learned in a notification from the feds that the funds were terminated, effective March 28 — 10 months earlier than anticipated.
ODE Communications Director Marc Siegel said the state does not have to send any money back to D.C., since the money was supposed to be reimbursed by the feds. The state didn’t receive any prospective payments, he said, but future work will need to be canceled.
The five programs that are directly affected focus on providing training and resources and creating professional networks for educators.
The programs were all meant to support teachers, administrators and regional staff, regardless of geographic location, so that students in every county would benefit, Siegel said. The federal order rescinding funds abruptly stops the development of content intended to improve classroom instruction for all of Oregon’s roughly 547,000 students.
“Due to these terminations, these resources won’t be developed and therefore won’t be available to benefit student learning,” Siegel told OPB. “The Oregon Department of Education is in the process of requesting reconsideration of the decision to terminate the funds.”
These projects were among many efforts to boost student outcomes, especially in math and English language arts, which state and national assessments show are an issue.
As of test scores released last fall, less than half of all Oregon students tested statewide are proficient in English language arts; less than a third are proficient in math. Nationwide data shows Oregon’s numbers are largely trending downward and fall below national averages.
Oregon school districts depend on a mix of state and federal dollars.
Siegel explained that ODE was leveraging this federal funding to develop free resources to improve student learning across the state and provide the kind of resources typically not available to many districts. It’s not something an individual district can easily afford with its own state funding.
“Gov. Tina Kotek has been clear in her remarks (in the past) that if the federal government does not fulfill its obligation,” he said, “the state will need to consider making cuts.”
Natalie Pate is a K-12 education reporter for OPB. Natalie has written about education in Oregon and beyond for nearly a decade, including more than seven years at the Statesman Journal in Salem. This article first appeared on opb.org.
