Oregon Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin, D-Corvallis, reports she received a call on Wednesday from Gov. Kate Brown saying Senate Bill 1578 wouldn’t pass during the 2022 legislative session.
The bill, which had bipartisan support as well as support from FACT Oregon and Disability Rights Oregon, aimed to have the Oregon Department of Education quickly investigate and resolve allegations of inadequate public education brought by the families of students with disabilities.
“The kids that we’re talking about have been denied access to quality education, full-time education – not just this school year, but last school year and the spring of COVID-19,” said Gelser Blouin.
Gesler Blouin explained that SB 1578 aims to help the students who’ve had their school days shortened or otherwise had their educational experience limited by school administrators. If passed, she said it could’ve helped students with increased health risks once Oregon’s mask mandate in schools ends in March.
“For me, it’s not a bill, it’s the question of whether kids can get back in school,” said Gelser Blouin. “When the masks come off at school… there are going to be students that are medically fragile or have high-risk conditions… those kids, some of them, aren’t going to be able to go to in-person school anymore… without any lever to require a quality comprehensive distance learning for these students, I don’t know how they’re supposed to get it.”
The Oregon Senate held a public hearing and work session for the bill and recommended passing it with amendments before referring it to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. Thursday, Feb. 24, was the deadline for bills to be heard in their chambers.
In the current system, concerned families have to exhaust all efforts at the district level before they can file a complaint with the state – something parents have had issues doing in the past, reporting that it’s been difficult to get any assistance from their local school district.
In a Twitter thread posted after speaking with the governor on Feb. 22, Gelser Blouin shared the stories of some of the families affected by the lack of access to education for students with disabilities.
“In Lane County, a medically fragile student has missed 40 days of school this year because his family was told there was no staff to support them,” wrote Gleser Blouin.
There are actually several federal laws that require public schools to provide equitable instruction for students with disabilities, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act – but schools aren’t necessarily fulfilling those obligations.
“This isn’t a convenience or a nice thing to do,” said Gelser Blouin. “These kids have been guaranteed access to public education on the same basis as non-disabled students. This isn’t a new law… It’s not an ‘extra,’ it’s not a ‘nice to have,’ this is a basic right of children to access a public education.”
By Momoko Baker
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