Oregon’s near-worst-in-nation education outcomes

prompt a reckoning on school spending

When newly released national test scores showed Oregon elementary and middle school students ranked near the bottom of the barrel in math and reading, the silence was palpable.

 

The state Department of Education did not issue any press releases about the results of what’s known as the Nation’s Report Card, scores that were otherwise scrutinized from coast to coast for any sign that students were recovering from pandemic setbacks.

 

Gov. Tina Kotek, too, was quiet.

 

Organizations representing the state’s school board members and school administrators said nothing.

 

There were crickets from the Oregon Education Association teachers union.