ODE reports on $30 million summer-learning grants and urges multi‑year funding to scale programs

Oregon Department of Education officials told the Education Subcommittee on Feb. 10 that the $30 million 2024 summer-learning investment created by House Bill 4,082 reached tens of thousands of students, yielded measurable academic gains for many grantees, and exposed barriers the agency recommends addressing through multi-year funding and a statewide systems approach.

Teneal Weatherall, chief of staff, and Michael Elliott, ODE managing director for school finance and facilities, presented results from the 2024 grants. Elliott said the program reached 66 grantees across the state, produced nearly 200 programs with 377 local partnerships, and directly served about 28,000 students. Grantees reported meeting nearly 80% of the 263 academic goals they set; ODE said grantees provided meals or snacks in 91% of programs and that 42% of K–8 participants attended 80 hours or more. Elliott also reported that grantees used funds to offer high-school credit opportunities: ODE recorded 4,627 credits earned over the summer in programs tied to English, language arts and math.

Raquel Gwynn, Assistant Director of Expanded Learning, presented the work group’s final recommendations and a multi‑year plan to build a sustainable statewide system for summer and after‑school learning. The report’s six priorities, as Gwynn summarized them, are equitable access, sustainable funding mechanisms, streamlined grant design and administration, program quality standards and oversight, outcomes and shared metrics, and strengthened partnerships among schools, community-based organizations and tribes. Gwynn described a staged buildout that would include formula grants in 2025, competitive grant infrastructure in 2026, and multi‑year scaling and evaluation steps in later years.

Legislators and panel members praised local successes but asked for finer-grained data and suggested prioritizing the highest-need communities if funding is limited. Representative McLean, the bill sponsor in prior sessions, and others recounted local programs that combined academic recovery, career exploration and enrichment; Hillsboro School District representatives described using $1.5 million in state funding to run a large summer operation that included 47 bus drivers, 30,000 meals and high school credit attainment for participating students.

Committee members asked about measurement methods; ODE said pre/post assessments were common but not universal and that grantees also used skill-specific assessments, performance tasks and adaptive platforms. Officials noted that $27.7 million of the $30 million was spent and that a per-district cap on awards helped spread funding more broadly.

ODE and several community presenters urged multi‑year, sustainable funding — the agency recommended a $100 million biennial target in its materials, and Representative McLean said she planned to propose doubling the governor’s budget line to about $160 million for the biennium. ODE staff emphasized the importance of multi‑year grants, transportation and workforce supports, quality standards, and a data system to track outcomes and continuous improvement.

Ending: Presenters and witnesses asked the committee to consider sustained funding, simplified and equitable grant administration, and capacity supports so smaller and rural districts can partner with community organizations; ODE said it will supply district-level award data and additional program detail on student outcomes to committee members.