SB657 • 2025

Requires school district boards to ensure that a specified percentage of expenditures of the school district are paid as compensation to teachers of core academic subjects or manual skills.

Budget Education

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor: Senator Bonham,, Robinson
Last action: 2025-06-27
Official status: In Senate Committee
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

Requires school district boards to ensure that a specified percentage of expenditures of the school district are paid as compensation to teachers of core academic subjects or manual skills.

Digest: Requires a school district board to pay teachers of certain subjects at least half of the school district budget.

What This Bill Does

Digest: Requires a school district board to pay teachers of certain subjects at least half of the school district budget.
(Flesch Readability Score: 71.7).
Requires school district boards to ensure that a specified percentage of expenditures of the school district are paid as compensation to teachers of core academic subjects or manual skills.
Declares an emergency, effective July 1, 2025.

Limits and Unknowns

This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

2025-06-27 Senate
In committee upon adjournment.
2025-01-17 Senate
Referred to Education.
2025-01-13 Senate
Introduction and first reading. Referred to President's desk.

Official Summary Text

Digest: Requires a school district board to pay teachers of certain subjects at least half of the school district budget. (Flesch Readability Score: 71.7).
Requires school district boards to ensure that a specified percentage of expenditures of the school district are paid as compensation to teachers of core academic subjects or manual skills.
Declares an emergency, effective July 1, 2025.
Relating to: Relating to school district budget expenditures; declaring an emergency.
Current location: In Senate Committee

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
Senate Bill 657
Sponsored by Senator BONHAM (at the request of Senator Noah Robinson) (Presession filed.)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject
to consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor’s brief statement of the essential features of the
measure as introduced. The statement includes a measure digest written in compliance with applicable readability
standards.
Digest: Requires a school district board to pay teachers of certain subjects at least half of the
school district budget. (Flesch Readability Score: 71.7).
Requires school district boards to ensure that a specified percentage of expenditures of the
school district are paid as compensation to teachers of core academic subjects or manual skills.
Declares an emergency, effective July 1, 2025.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to school district budget expenditures; amending ORS 328.542; and declaring an emergency.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1.
ORS 328.542 is amended to read:
328.542. (1) Subject to the Local Budget Law (ORS 294.305 to 294.565) , [ and] to sections 11 and
11b, Article XI, Oregon Constitution, and to subsection (3) of this section, each school district
board shall prepare annually or biennially the budget of the school district and shall certify ad
valorem property taxes to the assessor as provided by law.
(2) In addition to the requirements prescribed by ORS 294.305 to 294.565, a school district must
include at least one member of the educational equity advisory committee of the school district on
the budget committee.
(3)(a) A school district board shall ensure that at least 50 percent of the expenditures of
the school district are paid as compensation to teachers who spend 75 percent or more of the
school day teaching core academic subjects or manual skills.
(b) As used in this subsection:
(A) “Compensation” includes salary, health care and retirement benefits.
(B) “Core academic subjects” includes mathematics, science, language arts, history, ge-
ography, economics, civics, the arts and world languages.
(C) “Expenditures” means amounts paid from the general purpose grant distributed from
the State School Fund.
(D) “Manual skills” includes welding, woodworking and other related practical skills.
SECTION 2.
This 2025 Act being necessary for the immediate preservation of the public
peace, health and safety, an emergency is declared to exist, and this 2025 Act takes effect
July 1, 2025.
NOTE: Matter in boldfaced type in an amended section is new; matter [ italic and bracketed] is existing law to be omitted.
New sections are in boldfaced type.
LC 2359