Committee hears ODE bill to ease grant reporting and set funding floors for small districts

Chris (committee staff) summarized House Bill 3037 at the March 5 hearing: the bill would authorize the State Board of Education to set minimum grant awards for small districts (fewer than 1,650 students) and align eligibility and reporting requirements for several grants administered by the Oregon Department of Education. Zoe Larmer and Cassie Medina of ODE described the measure as designed to reduce administrative burden on small and rural districts and to clarify formulas and eligible grantees for Student Investment Account and other Student Success Act grants. "Nearly two thirds of our 197 school districts are considered small with enrollment under 1,650 students," Cassie Medina said.

Supporters framed the bill as administrative relief. Parissa Chanrami of the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators and Kim Kellison, superintendent of Silver Falls School District, told the committee that district leaders frequently wear multiple roles and spend extensive time on grant applications and duplicate reporting. "These changes might seem minor, they're significant in their impact," Chanrami testified, saying the bill would let superintendents focus more on instruction rather than paperwork.

Several superintendents gave concrete examples: Jervis School District Superintendent Dandy Stevens said his district would otherwise receive only about $2,200 for an early indicator and intervention grant but still face the same reporting requirements; smaller grants with heavy reporting can require combining funds from multiple sources to be useful, Stevens said. Kim Kellison described redundancy across over 130 state grants and multiple required data collections that draw administrators away from instructional leadership.

The bill would also move the required date for districts to post their English Learner funding reports from September 1 to December 1 to accommodate staff who are off contract in July and August. ODE said it does not anticipate a fiscal impact for the statutory changes themselves but acknowledged there are fiscal adjustments in the grant formulas.

Where it stands: ODE and superintendent associations urged committee support, emphasizing that an estimated 125 of Oregon's 197 districts meet the small-district definition in the bill and would benefit. The committee received no formal vote during the recorded session; supporters asked members to consider the legislation as a way to streamline state–district interactions and preserve local capacity for instructional leadership.