House Education Committee hears Quality Education Model overview; AIR recommends expanding prototypes and panels

The Oregon House Education Committee met May 28, 2025, to review the Quality Education Model (QEM) and to hear methodological recommendations from the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and Legislative Policy and Research Office (LPRO). Committee members asked questions about prototype schools, special education weighting, instructional minutes and whether school infrastructure costs are reflected in the QEM; no formal actions or votes were taken.

The QEM is the commission-created professional-judgment model that the Quality Education Commission (QEC) uses to estimate the state-level cost of providing an adequate education. Trisha Mooney, superintendent of the Hermiston School District and vice chair of the QEC, told the committee the commission produces a report every even-numbered year and submits it to the legislature; the report is due by Aug. 1. "We do the commission does meet regularly to, write a report that is due to the legislature by August 1, each even numbered year," Mooney said.

Why it matters: the QEM produces a full-cost estimate that informs lawmakers’ funding deliberations for the State School Fund (SSF). Committee members pressed presenters on how the QEM accounts for local differences (rural versus urban), special education costs and the relationship between the commission’s estimates and actual legislative appropriations.

Presenters from the QEC and the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) explained how the model is constructed and what it…