The Oregon legislature is entertaining three legislative bills that defy the court decision and ignores consequences from the Trump Administration on DEI issues. The uncertainty of what the federal government will do to Oregon’s budget doesn’t seem to be of concern to Democrats. They are full-steam ahead challenging President Trump that could cut a good portion of $38.6 billion that Oregon receives.

There are about 12 bills that are related to diversity in education in this 2025 legislative session. A couple of bills are aimed at bringing the state into compliance, but they never received a hearing. These three bills received a hearing despite having a court decision against them.

• HB 3006 would allow the Higher Education Coordinating Commission to award grants to school leader candidates based on race.
• HB 3200 seeks $10,000,000 from the state’s corporate activities tax for the scholarship program for culturally and linguistically diverse teacher candidates.
• HB 3030 would give money (scholarships) to future school leaders based on their race, where their family is from, or what language they first spoke.

These bills are very similar to a previous state program that was challenged in court. In Lynn v. Goff, a longtime Spanish teacher who worked in Oregon schools for over 20 years was denied the same financial help from a state program that was giving to other teachers, simply because he is white. The state settled the case and ended the program. Reintroducing the same kind of race-based policy now through HB 3006, HB 3030 and HB 3200 risks repeating that mistake at the expense of taxpayers.

The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed the unconstitutionality of using race when they addressed reverse discrimination in the Chevron decision. The U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause makes it clear: the government cannot treat people differently based on race.

The Chevron decision was an employment promotion case. SB 569 is also moving forward, which tells state agencies to grant money to groups that help a business to get certified as a minority owned business so it can have a better chance to get a public contract.

Representative Dwayne Yunker testified: “Now, HB 3030 is trying to do the same thing all over again. But courts have said many times: the government cannot treat people differently just because of their race. This breaks the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. The state has no strong proof that this kind of race-based program is needed, and that means it likely won’t survive a legal challenge.”

Goal setting with benchmarks was pushed for state agencies under Governor Kitzhaber, and announced a goal to achieve a 100% high school graduation rate by 2025 during his inaugural speech in January 2011. Goals were established in 1991 in ORS 342. Along came DEI and in 2021, HB 4031 amended ORS 342.437 to include: The percentage of diverse employees employed by the Department of Education reflects the percentage of diverse students in the public schools of this state. This is stated as a ‘goal’ to meet a benchmark, but the statutes frown on failure and the Department of Education requires school districts to have a plan to meet the goal. This has become an issue in a few districts, now stuck with teachers that are violating other policies.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Yunker says, “While supporting future educators is important, these bills do so in a way that is not fair to everyone. Grant programs should be based on merit, need, or qualifications—not on identity. … Oregon should support all aspiring school leaders equally. Fairness means giving everyone the same chance, no matter who they are or where they come from.”

Oregon should be scrambling to come into compliance with federal changes. However, the legislature has not taken steps against losing education funds and instead of eliminating DEI from schools, the leadership has doubled down, even after Oregon universities lost federal grant funding. Portland school district is being investigated for letting males participate in female sports. Nothing is being done to change sanctuary state protections, but instead, they propose to extend sanctuary status to sex criminals.

If the legislature doesn't pass reforms, the taxpayers will be left with the debt.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2025-04-03 16:40:28

Last Update: 2025-04-03 23:01:41