Oregon’s 197 school districts are beginning to measure progress toward new statewide student-outcome goals, a plan that could bring escalating state intervention for districts that fail to improve — and, after four years, state control of as much as 25% of a district’s funding. The system, approved by the Legislature and proposed by Gov. Tina Kotek, covers goals including attendance, third-grade reading, eighth-grade math and graduation. Districts start tracking results this school year. Those that miss their goals for two years must receive coaching; continued shortfalls in a third year bring intensive coaching. After four years, the state can take control of a portion of district funds. State officials say the approach is meant to link student results with support for struggling schools. But educators, parents and advocates question whether the state has provided the direction and resources needed to make the goals achievable. They point to decades of shifting education priorities and a system that gives local districts considerable autonomy while leaving the state with limited capacity to drive improvement. “If we just create accountability consequences, but forget to do the part of how we actually improve, then we just have a recipe for failure,” said Pooja Bhatt, a former education policy staffer for Kotek and former Gov. Kate Brown. Oregon has tried multiple accountability efforts over the past 25 years, including federal programs and state initiatives that later faded. Mark Redmond, who leads the Malheur Education Service District and the small Juntura and Arock districts, said new approaches tend to arrive with changes in political leadership. He described the cycle as starting over every seven or eight years. The state remains near the bottom nationally in student achievement, including math, reading and graduation. More than one-third of Oregon students missed at least 10% of the 2024-25 school year. State data also show 11% to 14% of students did not take last year’s standardized tests, which are used to assess reading and math progress. Those numbers create challenges for the new system. Oregon law lets students opt out of state tests, while district leaders say state enforcement of school-attendance requirements has been limited. State officials say districts will have access to a centralized collection of existing resources and tools, expected in early 2027. Some local leaders say they need more direct assistance sooner. Early literacy funding illustrates the dispute. A 2023 state law created grants for districts to use research-based reading instruction. Parent advocate Angela Uherbelau, who began organizing after a 2018 meeting about low test scores at her children’s Portland elementary school, said districts are spreading money too thinly instead of directing it to schools with the greatest need. Forest Grove Superintendent Suzanne West said the grants helped her district hire specialists, but did not provide enough to serve every school. West said the new goals risk adding pressure without adequate support. “Until the department is restructured to provide meaningful support to school districts, we’re not going to achieve the outcomes that I think the state wants us to achieve,” she said. Oregon Department of Education Director Charlene Williams said the accountability effort is about putting support in place, not simply collecting data. Kotek’s office said the state wants to use results to prompt action and improve student outcomes, rather than produce another report. Some districts have developed their own responses to problems they say the state has not addressed effectively. In Malheur County, school leaders created an attendance system that includes steps to help families and, as a last resort, fines. Vale Superintendent Alisha McBride said fewer than 1% of students were cited last year, and one family received a fine. The county’s attendance rate was nearly 20 percentage points higher than the statewide rate, according to state data. For students, the consequences of education policy can be immediate. Madysen Robinson, a student at Clackamas Academy of Industrial Sciences, said layoffs and cuts to the school’s middle-school program left students feeling that they had lost valued staff and learning opportunities. She wrote to the State Board of Education but said she received no response. The new system is intended to make districts’ progress more visible and bring help to schools that need it. Whether it can do so will depend not only on the goals, but on whether the state can offer sustained guidance and resources as districts work to meet them.