Accountability for English Language Learners’ Bill in Oregon Approved

On Tuesday, the Oregon House unanimously approved the legislation co-drafted by Rep. Gene Whisnant (R-Sunriver). HB 3499 directs the Oregon Department of Education to put in place a statewide program to report the progress of English language learners (ELL) and have a uniform and transparent expenditure tracking system of the ELL funds.

Rep. Whisnant said that regardless of socioeconomic background, all students in Oregon deserve to have access to quality education. The bill, he said, is a very important step to ensure that the learners of the English language are receiving and fully utilizing the resources and support provided for them. This is to help ensure that the achievement gap in Oregon is narrowed down. Co-sponsor of the bill was Rep. Joe Gallegos (D-Hillsboro) who said the bill was a result of the efforts put together by a diverse community of advocates, including the Chalkboard Project, Stand for Children and the Oregon Alliance For Education Equity, and educators in an effort to improve Oregon students’ outcomes.

Currently, all the school districts in Oregon receive an additional fund of $3,000 for each English language learner. The fund is to be used to help all ELL students directly to ensure that they succeed in their studies.

The bill was drafted because the lawmakers found that there was no existing rule that governs how the fund was spent and there was very limited information on how effective the funding was in ensuring the academic progress of the ELL students. ELL students are among the fastest growing student populations in Oregon and establishing the transparent guidelines will help lawmakers make informed decisions on how these students could be served better, according to Rep. Whisnant.

Through HB 3499 the Department of Education is required to form two work groups to ensure that the ELL student experience is improved. One group would be tasked to create the standard system for tracking and reporting the ELL spending for all the school districts. The other group’s task is to develop the criteria that will determine how effective the school districts are in serving these students by identifying the metrics that would be used for tracking their academic growth and the guidelines to be used for reporting their annual progress. The rules that the State Board of Education will adopt will be based on the final recommendations that the work groups would establish.

The bill now awaits the consideration of the Senate.

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