Two West Linn parents were furious that their children’s elementary schools held onto a once widely used reading curriculum years after it fell out of favor — and wondered why the state allowed it.
As it turns out, the Oregon Department of Education simply took the West Linn-Wilsonville School District at its word that it was in compliance with state curriculum rules. Top administrators asserted the district had gone through all steps required to use materials not on the state-approved list. Pressed by the parents, though, it could provide no records to back up its claim.
Now those parents, Rebecca Puskas and Ashley Bohanan, have filed a legal challenge to the state’s longstanding practice of allowing school districts to assert that they’ve met basic state requirements without providing any proof.
Under the current system, Oregon’s 197 school districts self-certify that they have met minimum requirements for instructional hours, dyslexia screenings, curriculum adoptions and 54 other topics. Puskas, a lawyer, said if their drive to get a judge to reverse the Oregon Department of Education’s decision succeeds, she believes it would prompt a reckoning for that system, known colloquially as Division 22 assurances.
This month, state schools chief Charlene Williams acknowledged many people who interact with the Oregon Department of Education criticize it for accepting districts’ self attestations without requiring evidence.