Race determined summer school grants

In 2024, the Oregon Department of Education prioritized summer school funding based on race and ethnicity of students, other demographic factors.

“Achieves” and “together” need some work.

The Oregon Department of Education prioritized which school districts would receive $30 million in 2024 summer school grants based upon the race and ethnicity of students, according to documents department documents obtained by Oregon Roundup. As a result, districts with relatively high percentages of students from department-identified preferred racial groups received top priority for funding.

Last year, the Oregon legislature passed, and Governor Tina Kotek signed into law, a summer school grant program reflecting Kotek’s belief that expanding summer school offerings would help students, many of whom struggle in the state’s badly lagging school system.

HB 4082 passed both houses of the legislature easily on a bipartisan basis (53-4 in the House; 26-4 in the Senate). It ordered ODE was to prioritize which districts would receive grant funding from the limited pool to help students who are economically disadvantaged, “from racial or ethnic groups that have historically experienced academic disparities,” with disabilities, “English language learners” and homeless and foster children.

ODE administrative rules provide the list of preferred racial and ethnic identities

includes, but is not limited to American Indian and Alaska Native students, Black and African American students, Hispanic and Latino students, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students, and multiracial students, and any other racial or ethnic group identified by the school district as historically experienced academic disparities.

In a document called “State Summer Learning Grant Program Parameters,” ODE explains it determined grant prioritization solely on the number of students in a district deemed to be part of one of the preferred “Focal Student Groups” described in the administrative rule as a percentage of the total district student population.

Source: Oregon Department of Education

Then, according to ODE, “The Summer Learning Grant funds were allocated to school districts and charter schools with the highest priority ranking until the $30 million had been fully allocated.” The amount of the grant to each district or charter school was determined by the total student population in the district.

Of note, a district’s historic student test scores, graduation rates, attendance and other indicators of academic success were irrelevant to ODE’s prioritization. The prioritization was based exclusively on the percentage of students who fit into a preferred racial or ethnic group, were disabled, homeless, etc.

The district with the highest priority rank that received grant funding - districts that did not apply for funding did not receive it, regardless of priority rank - was the Nixyaawii Community School, a small public charter school in Pendleton that serves primarily if not exclusively Native American students that received $20,000.

Second, receiving $1.2 million, was Woodburn School District, with the highest concentration of Latino students in the state. Third was Kids Unlimited Charter School in Medford, the student body of which is 86% Latino.

The top 77 priority districts received summer school funding. All districts with a priority rank of 78 and worse were placed on a waiting list. The districts not funded include many economically disadvantaged, but predominantly white, school districts: Harney County, Jordan Valley, Lake County, Coquille and John Day for example. Also on the outside looking in were larger districts like Eugene, Bend-LaPine and Corvallis.

ODE’s racially based prioritization scheme for summer school grants came as the country grapples with the fairness and constitutionality of state-mandated disparate treatment of racial and ethnic groups. Article I, section 20, of the Oregon Constitution, states, “No law shall be passed granting to any citizen or class of citizens privileges, or immunities, which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens.”

Oregon courts appear entirely disinterested in enforcing the state’s constitution as written. However, the same cannot be said for the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition against states “denying any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Chief Justice John Roberts, in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard University, wrote that a college runs afoul of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause when its admission policies confer benefits to some applicants based on the race of those applicants. It is widely expected the holding in Students for Fair Admissions will be applied by federal courts to other contexts in which states confer benefits in part on the basis of a person’s race or ethnicity.

I asked ODE whether it believes its 2024 summer school grant prioritization process is constitutional, and whether it plans to use a similar process for 2025. ODE spokesman Marc Siegel responded, but did not answer those questions:

ODE issues grants in accordance with how the legislature required it to. ODE is committed to making sure students have the tools and resources to thrive, to continue our vision for serving each and every scholar receiving education in Oregon.

Summer learning is a proven approach for Oregon schools to increase instructional time, improve attendance and connectedness to school, and dramatically accelerate and expand learning opportunities.

As reported exclusively by Oregon Roundup, the State of Oregon in 2021 adopted its “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan: A Roadmap to Racial Equity and Belonging.” The Action Plan calls on all state employees to seek racially equitable outcomes, defined as “the redistribution of resources, power, and opportunity to . . . communities . . . impacted by systemic oppression.”

The Trump Administration is attempting to dismantle educational programs based on race and ethnicity. It announced last week that the University of Oregon is one of 60 universities nationwide under investigation for race-exclusionary practices in its graduate school programs.