by Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle
April 22, 2026
By the time they graduate from high school, some Oregon students have spent the equivalent of three years more at schools than their peers in other districts, a new study found.
Those vast disparities in school time, based on a state law that gives districts broad flexibility in setting school calendars, are also tied to student performance, according to data analyzed by ECOnorthwest for the nonprofit advocacy group Stand for Children.
If Oregon, with one of the shortest school years in the nation, mandated more time in school, and improved regular attendance among students — also near the bottom in the nation — students could be expected to perform in the top tier of states as opposed to the bottom on reading and math in the National Assessment of Education Progress, often referred to as the Nation’s Report Card, the report found.
“We’ve seen it time and time again, but cutting days has real, long-term consequences for our students, and once that time is gone, it’s very hard to get it back on the schedule,” said Virginia LaForte, a Portland Public Schools Board member, at a news conference in Portland Wednesday hosted by Stand for Children.
“At the same time, we are asking schools to go deeper than ever, especially around literacy. We’re investing in evidence-based instruction, in aligned curriculum, better support for our students. But those investments cannot succeed if we keep removing the one thing that matters most, that will make them successful, and that is time,” she said.
While most states mandate a 180-day school year, Oregon law sets a minimum number of instructional hours: 900 hours for kindergarten through eighth grade; 990 hours for ninth through 11th grade; and 966 hours for high school seniors.
The result is vast disparities by district in how much time students spend in school by graduation, and detrimental impacts on student proficiency in key subjects as measured by standardized test scores, the researchers suggest.
The findings follow Gov. Tina Kotek’s recent executive order prohibiting schools from cutting instructional time to balance their budgets.
LaForte was among a group of school district board members, politicians and parents who praised Kotek’s order at the news conference Wednesday and called on the state Legislature to change Oregon law and mandate a 180-day school year, with increased funding to help districts balance budgets.
“Time for students should not be a bargaining tool,” said Vân Truong, a Beaverton School Board member.
‘Part and parceling’ the school day
The researchers analyzed publicly available district calendars and “bell-to-bell” schedules for Oregon elementary and high schools between June 2025 and April 2026. That includes lunch, recess and passing time. The state-mandated minimum hours of instructional time does not count lunch, recess and passing time but does allow schools to count up to 30 hours of parent-teacher conferences and up to 30 hours of teacher professional development as instructional time, something Kotek’s order also seeks to end.
Every one of Oregon’s 10 largest school districts exceed the state-mandated minimum hours of instructional time for elementary and high schoolers, the data shows, but the school year at all of them was shorter than the 180-day school year mandated by most states.
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The data reveals that Oregon students who go to schools in the top 90th percentile of instructional time offered receive more than half an additional year of school by 5th grade, and more than a year of additional time in school by high school graduation, than schools in the bottom 10th percentile.
LaForte said Oregon’s focus on meeting a minimum number of instructional hours as opposed to enforcing an immovable set number of school days required for every district ultimately incentivizes using time as a bargaining tool in budgeting and teacher contract negotiations at the expense of students.
“We work with minutes and hours. So when we are bargaining, it becomes a situation where we are part and parceling minutes-per-day to make our schedules work within these, you know, not so friendly confines of our budget,” she said. “We have been put in a situation where time with students is a negotiating point. That is a non-negotiable, and we need the state to step up and make that job easier for districts.”
The state’s largest teachers’ union and school administrators’ association objected to Kotek’s announcement, saying it would lead districts to cut staff and class offerings, trading instructional quality for quantity, and that it did nothing to provide districts with the increased funding they need from the state.
State Rep. April Dobson, D-Happy Valley, and a member of the North Clackamas School Board, said at the news conference that lawmakers will take up school year length and funding formula issues during the 2027 legislative session. Oregon needs a 180-day school year as most other states mandate, she said.
“I’m committed to collaborating with districts and educators around how we give students more time to learn, but the outcome is not negotiable,” she added.
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