This Legislative Session, we are working on a handful of bills that would ensure a safer and more productive learning environment for students and educators.

Oregon schools are seeing a rise in serious student behavioral issues and disciplinary challenges which are resulting in difficulty maintaining productive learning environments for all students and physical injuries to other students and educators.

These behaviors have a variety of root causes including, but not limited to, large, unmanageable class sizes, family traumas caused by the Great Recession, and exposure to technology.

Educators simply need more tools to respond to these challenges.We must provide districts with the resources to reduce class sizes, hire more support staff, school counselors and psychologists, provide safe spaces for students, and provide better reporting and training. Here are some bills that would do this: 

HB 2651 to make class size a statewide mandatory subject of collecting bargaining.

SB 363 to implement a statewide study of safety and classroom management improvements in special education and related education services.

HB 2337 to increase workers’ compensation benefits.

SB 293 to expand Individual Education Plan access to more educators.

Creation of a task force on productive learning environments to pursue best practices for behavioral management in schools.