Oregon Governor Orders More Classroom Time as Schools Cut Student Learning Hours
Oregon children will spend more time receiving classroom instruction under an executive order issued by Governor Tina Kotek this week.
We Cannot Expect Better Outcomes if Children Have Less Time to Learn
As school districts implement and prepare to introduce cuts to student instructional time, Kotek issued Executive Order 26-06, saying: “We cannot expect better outcomes if we continue to give our students less time to learn.”
School districts have adopted a shorter teaching time policy in an effort to stay within streamlined budgets and other operational pressures.
Policies Must Prevent Reductions in Student Instructional Hours
However, the governor has directed the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to request that the State Board of Education (SBE) immediately prioritize policies to prevent any further reduction in student instructional hours.
The governor says her executive order clarifies the protection and strengthening of instructional time, ‘essential to improving student achievement and setting our kids up for long-term success.’
Oregon students receive far fewer instructional hours than students in all but a handful of other states, according to Stand for Children, a national non-profit education advocacy organization focused on ensuring all students receive a high-quality education.
Source: Oregon Administrative Rule 581 022 2320 required instructional time
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Oregon Historically Has Low Standards of Time Spent in School
The organization’s Oregon Executive Director, Sarah Pope, says the state has historically set low standards for classroom instruction, resulting in children not receiving sufficient time to learn.
She says Oregon has one of the highest rates of chronic classroom absenteeism in the U.S.
Furthermore, Pope points out that children attending schools in the lowest-time districts in Oregon receive up to three fewer years of actual classroom time compared to the highest-time districts.
Sources: OPB, Oregon Journalism Project, Stand for Children and ECOnorthwest classroom time data
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Key actions of the Executive Order are:
- The protection of instructional time levels by directing the ODE to collaborate with the SBE to prioritize policies that prevent any further reductions in student instructional time.
- School districts that have already reduced instructional time for the 2025-26 or 2026-27 must submit plans within 90 days on how they plan to restore learning hours to at least the 2024-25 levels by the start of the 2027-28 school year.
- The ODE is prohibited from granting or renewing waivers that allow districts to fall below minimum instructional time, excep in cases of declared emergencies.
The order will amend state rules to ensure that instructional time accurately reflects genuine student-teacher engagement.
This eliminates the practice of counting non-classroom activities, such as professional development and parent-teacher conferences, as instructional time.
Lastly, the ODE must publish annual instructional time reports for all Oregon school districts. The executive order, which is effective immediately, will remain in place for 180 days.