FROM PAGE ONE
TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2022
THE OBSERVER — A5
GRADS
to thousands of students
when the graduation rate is
upward by two percentage
points, and I think it’s a big
deal to those students who
do not graduate from high
school when the graduation
rate declines by two per-
centage points,” said David
Liebowitz, a professor at
the University of Oregon’s
College of Education who
studies education methods
and policy.
When it comes to
squaring a high absentee
rate with only a slight
decrease in the graduation
rate, Marc Seigel, com-
munications director at
the Education Department
wrote in an email, “The
class of 2021 had nearly
three years of in-person
high school prior to the
beginning of the pan-
demic. Many of these stu-
dents were well on their
path to graduation when
the pandemic began, and
were able to maintain
that momentum despite
the challenges of the
pandemic.”
No traditional four-
year high school in Oregon
experienced an increase in
graduation rates by 10%
or more. A mix of 43 tra-
ditional four-year high
schools and charter schools
had graduation rates of
100%. The lowest gradua-
tion rate in the state was at
Southern Oregon Success
Academy, an alternative
school near Grants Pass,
which graduated just one
of its 48 seniors.
Overall, about 40% of
Oregon’s 539 high schools
had graduation rates below
the state average. About
100 had rates below 70%,
and about half of those
were alternative schools or
virtual charters.
According to Lieb-
owitz, “Just a small subset
of schools can have a
major impact on the state’s
overall graduation rate.
A very small number of
schools contribute to a lot
of the high school dropouts
around the state.”
Oregon’s dropout rate
in 2021 was just under 2%,
according to data from the
Education Department.
Liebowitz said it’s hard
to pinpoint any one reason
for a decline or increase
in graduation rates in an
individual year, but a loss
of two percentage points
in graduation rate means
thousands of students.
“I think that the right
way to think about this is
to think about the indi-
vidual students who are on
the margin completing, or
not completing, high school
and the life opportunities
that implies for them if
they do or don’t complete
high school,” he said.
— Oregon Capital
Chronicle reporter Alex
Baumhardt contributed to
this report.
I dealt with,” Smith stated.
“This session, I am hoping
to see many constituents
in Salem again because,
unlike last session, the Cap-
itol is slated to be open to
the public.”
Levy also expressed
positivity about the session,
even if it’s no longer doing
what Oregonians intended
it for.
“This short session
was meant to fi x budget
shortfalls,” she said, “and
there’s nothing in my bill or
anyone else’s bill who I’m
sponsoring that’s a budget
shortfall — except, perhaps
the $1 million ask, because
we don’t have enough
money in that compensa-
tion fund — but I sure hope
we get them all passed. I
always am an optimistic
person.”
She even said she, a
Republican, might vote
for a Democrat as the next
speaker to replace the out-
going speaker, Rep. Tina
Kotek, D-Portland.
House Democrats
selected Rep. Dan Ray-
fi eld, D-Corvallis, to be
their nominee as speaker.
As Democrats have the
majority, Rayfi eld likely
will gain the offi ce. While
Levy said she did not know
him well, she credited him
for being experienced,
moderate and logical.
She said Rayfi eld has, in
previous work, “spread the
money around the state,”
which she said she appre-
ciated because Portland
should not get everything
they want.
“He’s an equitable
person in that regard,” she
said. “I’m looking forward
to getting to know him
better.”
While she is consid-
ering voting for Rayfi eld as
speaker, she said she needs
to confer with her caucus
fi rst.
Continued from Page A1
“They do all they can to
get them to what we call the
promised land,” Wells said.
La Grande and Cove
high schools posted almost
identical graduation rates:
85.71% of Cove’s seniors
graduated, up 1.5% from
2019-20, and La Grande
graduated 85.99%, down
from 89.89% the previous
year.
La Grande School Dis-
trict Superintendent George
Mendoza said he is proud
of how LHS students are
doing in terms of gradu-
ating despite the challenges
posed by the COVID-19
pandemic.
“I’m just very pleased
with our students. They’ve
endured a challenging time
and they’ve earned their
diploma,” he said. “I’m very
pleased and happy for them,
and I have a lot of gratitude
for our staff and our fami-
lies that worked collabora-
tively to ensure the success
of our students.”
Powder Valley High
School’s graduation rate
was 80%, which was down
from 100% in 2019-20,
while Elgin High School
had a graduation rate of
71.43%, which was down
from 82.76% in 2019-20.
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Enterprise graduates launch their caps skyward in celebration at the conclusion of their graduation ceremony Saturday, May 29, 2021.
Enterprise School District had a graduation rate at 95.65% in 2020-21, up from 2019-20 when it posted a graduation rate of 85.37%.
State grad rates drop
The average four-
year graduation rate in
the state went from 83%
for the class of 2020 to
81% for the class of 2021,
which graduated more
than 37,000 seniors. About
8,900 students didn’t grad-
uate with their class.
This is despite a nearly
50% chronic absentee rate
for high school seniors
during the last school year,
meaning nearly half of stu-
dents missed more than
10% of their classes.
Jon Wiens, director
of accountability and
Misty Johnson/Contributed Photo, File
Graduates of Union High School beam during the opening ceremony of the schools graduation
commencement June 5, 2021. Union School District posted a graduation rate of 94.12% in 2020-21.
reporting at the Education
Department, said teacher
records of attendance were
inconsistent between online
and in-person instruc-
tion and between dis-
tricts, calling into question
the accuracy of the high
absentee fi gure.
Prior to the pandemic,
regular school attendance
rates in Oregon stood at
about 80%.
High school gradua-
tion rates have picked up
in Oregon since the second
decade of the 2000s,
increasing, overall, by one
to three percentage points
every year since about 2010.
“It’s both a big deal
SESSION
Continued from Page A1
SB 554 during the 2021 leg-
islative session,” the Senate
bill Gov. Kate Brown signed
in 2021 that regulated
fi rearm storage and banned
guns at the state Capitol
and Portland International
Airport.
The law also allows
school boards to ban guns
on school grounds. He said
he would support legisla-
tion that would “establish
liability for specifi c crimes
committed in ‘gun-free
zones.’”
Smith also said he is
going to focus on mid-
dle-income housing,
according to the press
release, which he called
“District 57’s most pressing
housing need.”
He also pointed out the
importance of the Interstate
5 bridge, which connects
Oregon and Washington,
as “critical” to the Port of
Morrow and other ports in
his district.
“As a member of the
Joint I-5 Bridge Committee,
I support the new bridge
and will be intimately
involved in its develop-
ment,” he stated.
Protecting Eastern
Oregon livestock from
predators, education
funding, behavioral
health, curbing the gover-
nor’s emergency powers
and returning people to
“normal” life also are on
Smith’s agenda.
Hansell to address two
issues in Senate
While he waits for his
proposals to become bills
through legislative counsel,
Hansell said he hopes to use
the two bills he’s allowed
Kristyna Wentz-Graff /Oregon Public Broadcasting, File
Sen. Lynn Findley, left, R-Vale, conferences with Sen. Bill Hansell,
R-Athena, on the Senate fl oor at the Oregon State Capitol on Tues-
day, May 18, 2021. Entering the 2022 legislative session, Hansell said
one of the issues he’s keeping an eye on is the push to lift the over-
time exemption for agricultural workers.
to submit this session,
addressing illegal mari-
juana grows in Southern
Oregon and medical
mergers and acquisitions.
Hansell said he’s a part
of a bipartisan group of
legislators
looking to pass
a number of
bills to assist
Southern
Oregon, a
region Hansell
Hansell
said is being
inundated with drug car-
tels and other bad actors
operating illegal marijuana
farms. While his bill likely
would fund operations far
outside his Northeastern
Oregon base, Hansell said
the impacts could be felt
locally if the Legislature
fails to take action.
“If you don’t stop it
there, it’s coming to you,”
he said.
Hansell is focusing his
other bill on amending
a law passed last year
that requires the state
to approve many health
care provider mergers
and acquisitions before
proceeding.
The bill passed with
heavy Republican opposi-
tion, and Hansell said he
would prefer to just repeal
the bill and start over.
But instead, he said
he’s working with hospital
groups to change the law.
If the law isn’t changed,
Hansell said it could cause
rural health care providers
to shut down rather than
seek out a merger that
could keep them open.
Besides the bills he’s
sponsoring, Hansell said
one of the issues he’s
keeping an eye on is the
push to lift the overtime
exemption for agricultural
workers. Hansell said such
a law would lead employers
to cut hours and would hurt
producers.
Some hot takes on
upcoming session
Smith said he is looking
forward to the upcoming
session.
“The 2021 legislative
session was a long and
diffi cult session coupled
with a full reconstruc-
tive shoulder surgery that
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