[{"_1":2,"_100":-5,"_101":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,88],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6303017,"mediaKeyId","2475557-3506d13e42b88899dbf84883387ed6f7","parentId",2475557,"title","Bill would fund nine investigators at teacher licensing commission to reduce investigative backlog","audioSeconds",1014,"startMs",4166255,"endMs",5180755,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2475557-3506d13e42b88899dbf84883387ed6f7&start=4166&end=5180","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2475557-3506d13e42b88899dbf84883387ed6f7/thumbnail_4166255.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6303017/Oregon/Bill-would-fund-nine-investigators-at-teacher-licensing-commission-to-reduce-investigative-backlog","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6303017-585bb1fcbc629f0ac0913dd15d93caa5/orig.mp4?Expires=1773651072&Signature=OWjNaliu9sqFgXT7H2vFJbS5rTBubeSzw5fuCMdtg9HKG-~mkgibRd0SmIn3T1Rr1Lda~Kkvst~munuJ-VCSze-YIkF~sOvrWLnjMeY25Npz4hQQrCUxMGQ0pX41TGrWTohXivqhnCqgkCq4XRMFEuGrq1zbdLwU3f-DTfIwnlDY~NIFkERFusZLsRnHdU2HDS83u8bNsOS94ANrx6uSPzJecDnZVUGnfVrpwOQYk8QQy9K1gDm8ApdLLFVRjo2K~tHJsPLZtyRqE94tr1CaeDTWZ79jpq8zVkNMgPsD-dbn6fW1rlJeK-jgeFr4edx1YWg3LwkOeHDJQPSG7~o47w__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Oregon State Legislature ","date","2025-03-03T00:00:00Z","article","House Bill 3,504 would appropriate $2,054,000 from the general fund to the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC) for nine full-time investigator positions in the commission’s Professional Practices Unit. Sponsors told the House Committee on Education the funding is a one-time appropriation intended to reduce a backlog of complaints and shorten lengthy investigation timelines.

Representative Courtney Neuron, sponsor, said the Professional Practices Unit is responsible for investigating allegations of educator misconduct that can lead to license denial, suspension or revocation. Neuron said prolonged investigations—sometimes stretching beyond two years—harm students, prolong trauma for complainants and impose uncertainty on educators. \"The safety of Oregon students depends on a swift and effective investigation process,\" Neuron said, arguing additional investigators will clear the backlog and improve timeliness.

Data presented during the hearing showed the commission received about 463 new cases in 2024 (up from roughly 200–250 annually in prior years) and had more than 550 pending cases as of February 2025. Witnesses said the average time to complete investigations is about 13.2 months. TSPC staff reported that with five investigators in 2024 they cleared 175 cases; commissioners and witnesses estimated that adding the proposed staff could increase annual case closures substantially (one estimate suggested the unit might clear toward 400 cases a year if staffing were increased and support positions added).

Superintendents and administrators supported the appropriation. Andrea Castaneda, superintendent of Salem-Keizer Public Schools, said long delays have real personnel and classroom impacts: employees sometimes resign rather than wait for case resolution, parents perceive the process as slow, and districts bear costs for paid administrative leave and substitute coverage. The testimony estimated daily cost impacts for a licensed staff absence in one district at about $800 per day, on top of educational disruption.

The Oregon School Boards Association and the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators supported the bill and said timely resolution benefits students and educators. TSPC representatives who answered committee questions said they would follow up with a written projection of expected reductions in average investigation time if the additional investigators were funded; initial estimates from TSPC staff suggested a substantial increase in annual case closures but did not give an exact revised average-duration figure during the hearing.

The bill declares an emergency and would take effect July 1, 2025, if enacted. The committee held a public hearing but did not record a committee vote on HB 3,504 during the session.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","House Committee On Education 03/03/2025","oneSentenceSummary","House Bill 3,504 would provide $2,054,000 to the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission to hire nine investigators to reduce a backlog of educator misconduct cases and shorten investigation timelines.","taxTitle","Education, House of Representatives, Committees, Legislative, Oregon","taxId",17513,"location","Oregon","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6303022,"Advocates push 'Alyssa's Law' to fund wearable panic alarms in Oregon schools",893,3285385,4179115,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2475557-3506d13e42b88899dbf84883387ed6f7&start=3285&end=4179","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2475557-3506d13e42b88899dbf84883387ed6f7/thumbnail_3285385.jpg","/articles/6303022/Oregon/Advocates-push-Alyssas-Law-to-fund-wearable-panic-alarms-in-Oregon-schools","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6303022-eb4d778d9e004dd75b5dff5b83065cd5/orig.mp4?Expires=1773651072&Signature=ii5Qd9dPN3GuVRrMFKEMNjSdJ9wZwsFfXET4~-zjVIuzL563173ZjqCi8Mkqe1N-YQwlUdqens2SxS8PMqnc28N9qEMDwg6~Upm0JZmQ-wq39vCS01oi0OCP7iTS4lNmlZuf5Y4SXZge9Q-psGhMzbVT0FjzfSwYUA7xNvn2yzNWUoe0bTxaOS3iK3koNpRxrJV92rzvgJfJ88NdXh2R9cWTobUUIUoCJdv80gP7z4kjJVu710fgPfueMKjYqXgn0BehwyZBMDa1lPwbP4tjxGxVM7Fp8285x8HiGsTDyg5FmcepEe0MMI1dIX4EZ99zWOiQ2P06A-RfopRpw66FzA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","House Bill 3,083, titled \"Alyssa's Law,\" drew emotional testimony on March 3, 2025, as proponents urged the House Committee on Education to allow Oregon schools to adopt wearable panic-alert devices that directly connect to 9-1-1 and speed coordinated emergency response.

Senator (name withheld in transcript) and Representative Teresa Levy (Representative Levy is referenced as sponsor) described HB 3,083 as a security measure to strengthen emergency preparedness that builds on existing drills and safety planning. Representative Levy said the bill is a \"funded nonmandate,\" and sponsors indicated they placed funds in a budget note last session and expect an amendment to specify that devices must provide geolocation and direct 9-1-1 connectivity. Levy said the committee would pursue a per-school allotment increase to about $4,000 to cover typical vendor pricing.

Lori Alhadeff, founder of Make Our Schools Safe and mother of Alyssa Alhadeff, one of the 17 victims in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School attack, testified about response delays in that shooting and urged adoption of panic-alert devices. \"Time equals life,\" Alhadeff said, arguing wearable panic alarms can shorten the time for first responders to reach students and staff during active threats, medical events and other emergencies. She cited examples from other states in which alert systems reportedly enabled faster medical response or campuswide lockdowns.

Julia Salimoni, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas survivor now living in Oregon, also urged passage and said adopting Alyssa's Law would reaffirm Oregon's commitment to safety.

Technical testimony from a vendor representative described modern emergency-alert systems that integrate mobile apps, two-way communications with 9-1-1, and campus notification tools. Representatives and witnesses emphasized the technology should augment, not replace, layered safety approaches such as drills and training.

Administrators and advocates said the bill is voluntary for districts and that funding for purchases would come from existing school safety allocations under the Student Success Act and related budget items; sponsors noted they will address per-school allotments through an amendment. Committee members asked about scope, cost ranges (witnesses cited vendor ranges of roughly $2,000 to $8,000 per school), how bans on student cellphones could affect communications strategies, and how geolocation and 9-1-1 integration would be verified. The hearing closed without a committee vote recorded on HB 3,083.","Supporters, including the mother of Parkland victim Alyssa Alhadeff, urged passage of HB 3,083 to allow schools to adopt wearable panic devices that connect to 911; sponsors described the proposal as a funded, optional program and said implementation details and per-school allotments would be addressed by amendment.",{"_33":89,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":90,"_41":91,"_43":92,"_45":93,"_47":94,"_49":95,"_51":96,"_53":97,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":98,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":99,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6303029,"Committee hears bill to create statewide school workplace safety reporting system",3022,61730,3084369,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2475557-3506d13e42b88899dbf84883387ed6f7&start=61&end=3084","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2475557-3506d13e42b88899dbf84883387ed6f7/thumbnail_61730.jpg","/articles/6303029/Oregon/Committee-hears-bill-to-create-statewide-school-workplace-safety-reporting-system","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6303029-699b28d7bbe37524e22711a048f9a448/orig.mp4?Expires=1773651072&Signature=V2MlI4X~WAbaREVaphehKl3ONTNvbemaLqPCzAytUU4uNFpDZ1hLnbgoNxUUOzsoXurAcKDjQLS8cVyBzz2H-xptU9j5t231gLs-M0hKvI2vZnN8j3vMfseS6LvS2Q1rp7TjmsdMByz6P3bo5YzgLuzVgZRYEqyWRrMteK0jTrXVkdBBgvF-BnTkIR3KNikwkaurwU3aw9wAtiHPGx8OiWoeDw8u1-pIiNHbRomf~Js0T3HQ1SV-GrUk2BwMsClU4Z7DdoAJWSdg2Inw5xhS3syrp8MNVY49kgTPGwoiO5UH06rY2~dwQIJhR5ju5UmIfw6BvJhJoMX6NoqWtm0yxw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","A House Committee on Education public hearing on March 3, 2025, focused on House Bill 3,357, a proposal to create a standardized, web-based system for reporting workplace safety incidents involving school and education service district employees.

Representative Leslie Munoz, sponsor, said HB 3,357 would direct the Oregon Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Consumer and Business Services, to build an accessible, easy-to-use online reporting method that minimizes duplication and includes safeguards against bias. \"We cannot fix what we do not measure,\" Munoz said, arguing the tool would provide the data lawmakers and district leaders need to identify trends and guide solutions.

The bill drew extensive testimony from classified school employees and union leaders who described barriers to current incident reporting. Terri Harris Jones, OSEA state vice president and a primary school library director in Coos Bay, told the committee that employees face time constraints, fear of reprisal, limited access to forms and inconsistent training, all of which lead to underreporting. \"A quicker, easier universal system that we would be happy to help promote is an important step to gain the data educators need to analyze and craft solutions,\" she said.

Other witnesses said existing district processes are patchworks of paper forms or hard-to-find files on shared drives. Lisa Jenkins Easton, an OSEA chapter president and school scheduler in Eugene, said staff often lack time to find or complete incident forms and that the reporting process can feel punitive. Several speakers recommended that the definition of an incident include environmental hazards and near-miss events so schools can address risks before injuries occur.

Representatives of school administrators and school boards—Morgan Allen of the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators and Adrienne Anderson of the Oregon School Boards Association—said they support the intent but raised concerns about implementation. They said the bill, as written, creates a new statewide data collection without funding or staffing for districts or the agency that would host the system, removes a technical advisory committee in earlier drafts, and lacks a clear definition of \"workplace safety incident.\" They also warned that public access to certain data fields could unintentionally identify students in small schools.

Iris Hodge, government relations director for OSEA, said the bill was modeled on a reporting relationship already used by the Oregon Nurses Association and the Oregon Health Authority and that proponents expect the state agency and the represented associations to receive reports. She said the goal is to reduce administrative burden by allowing the staff member who experienced an incident to file the report directly online, rather than routing paperwork through a school office.

Committee members raised follow-up questions about whether districts would receive copies of reports, how the system would minimize duplicative reporting with existing workers' compensation and OSHA forms, and how collected data would be used to design solutions. Proponents said the system is intended as a first step to develop consistent statewide data to inform future funding and policy decisions. The committee held a public hearing; no final committee vote or referral was recorded during the hearing.

The testimony record includes reports of systemic undercounting (OSEA witnesses cited anecdotal examples and barriers) and technical concerns from districts and associations about funding, definitional clarity and timelines for implementation. Committee staff indicated further conversations and likely amendments would follow.","Lawmakers and school employees urged creation of a standardized, public-facing online system for reporting school employee workplace incidents to collect consistent data and guide safety improvements. No vote was taken; a public hearing was held.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Bill would fund nine investigators at teacher licensing commission to reduce investigative backlog

Advocates push 'Alyssa's Law' to fund wearable panic alarms in Oregon schools

Committee hears bill to create statewide school workplace safety reporting system