Donna Kreitzberg Executive Director of Education Freedom in Oregon 3 PM Monday, February 05, 2024, S01-Ep006
We will be discussing the two education measures her organization is working to put on the November Ballot in Oregon.
Current Status
We are introducing our new 2022 constitutional amendments:
1) School Choice Amendment — for Private School and Homeschool Students
2) Open Enrollment Amendment — for Public School and Charter School Students
We are now collecting petition signatures to put the measures on the Nov 2024 Ballot!
Ballot Measures for the Nov 2024 election
Ballot Measures - Education Freedom for Oregon, School Choice Amendment, Open Enrollment Amendment
1) School Choice Amendment (#6)
2) Open Enrollment Amendment (#5)
The School Choice Amendment
Summary of Amendment
The School Choice Amendment gives parents the constitutionally protected right to choose the school that their child attends, as provided below.
As a method of voluntary school choice, parents may choose to have their child educated outside public school, such as nonpublic online programs, private school, or homeschooling, and receive a share of Oregon’s education dollars.
To make the choice, parents will notify the state agency overseeing education that the parents opt out of the assigned public school and request a School Choice Account.
Once a parent makes the election, a portion of Oregon’s education dollars shall be deposited into the parent’s School Choice Account at the nonprofit organization chosen by the parent.
Parents may direct the money in the School Choice Account be spent on the education of their child, including private school tuition, homeschool curricula, nonpublic online programs, vocational training, educational therapies, tutors, exam and testing fees, summer or specialized, after-school education programs, etc.
The annual amount of School Choice Funds transferred to each student’s School Choice Account will be $7,600 or more, depending on the state’s total education budget.
School Choice Funds, once deposited into the parent’s School Choice Account, are no longer public funds.
Any School Choice Funds left over yearly will roll over, and after the child completes high school, any remaining funds may be used to pay for college, university, vocational or trade school in Oregon.
The parent’s notice and receipt of School Choice Funds shall satisfy Oregon’s compulsory school attendance requirements.
Neither the parent nor the education providers who receive or use School Choice Funds will be required by the state to change their creed, education practices, teaching credentials or qualifications, admission policy or curricula.
The actions of the parent and education providers will not be deemed to be the actions of the state.
This applies to schooling provided from July 1, 2025, onwards.
The Open Enrollment Amendment
Summary of Amendment
Full Text of Amendment
The Open Enrollment Amendment gives parents the constitutionally protected right to choose the public school, including charter school, that their child attends, as provided below.
As a method of voluntary school choice, the parent whose child is not subject to expulsion or suspension, has the right throughout each school year to choose any public school within the state for the parent’s child to attend, for the appropriate grade level.
The child shall be admitted for enrollment if there is classroom or program space in the chosen school. Priority shall be given first to students within the attendance zone and then within the school district.
If there are more applicants for the chosen school than there are remaining spaces available, the chosen school district shall select a child to attend the chosen school by an equitable lottery process.
In selecting a child to attend the chosen school, the chosen school district may not deny consent nor give priority based on race, religion, creed, sex, gender, ethnicity, political belief, national origin, disability, terms of an individualized education program, income level, proficiency in the English language or athletic ability.
The chosen school district shall accept all credits toward graduation earned by the child in any previous school district, private school, or homeschool.
Once enrolled in a school within the chosen school district, and unless expelled, the chosen school district shall provide the open enrollment student with free and appropriate public education, and the open enrollment student shall not need to reapply in subsequent years for enrollment in the chosen school district.
Except as required by federal law, the chosen school district shall not be required to provide transportation outside the attendance zone of the chosen school district to an open enrollment student.
The resident school district shall provide the chosen school district with a complete copy of the open enrollment student’s school records.
Each school district shall make readily and easily available to the parents of the school district detailed information about the statewide, year-round open enrollment application process, including a simple statewide application form, how and where to submit the application form, whom to contact with questions about open enrollment, and when and how notification of acceptance or denial will be provided to parents.
This applies to schooling provided from July 1, 2025, onwards.
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