September 23, 2022 3:05 a.m.

Oregon House Republican Leader Vikki-Breese-Iverson is calling on Oregon Department of Education Director Colt Gill to resign, following 2022 statewide assessment results released by his department on Thursday.

Breese-Iverson said “As a mother of two boys in high school, I am not surprised by the plummeting test scores of students across the state. Governor Brown and the Democrat majority took their orders from the teacher unions and shut down schools with callous disregard to the impact those shutdowns would have on students”. Breese-Iverson said, “They deliberately ignored parents who foresaw the devastating impacts the shutdown and mandates would have on their students”.

Breese-Iverson said Governor Brown and Director Gill “…took zero accountability” for the assessment results. She said their reaction was “…insulting to parents across the state”. She said instead of focusing on improving student’s ability to read, ODE “…pushed a progressive political agenda in the waning days of their failed administration”.

The Oregon House Republican Caucus release said in the 2021 regular session, House Republican Education Committee members pushed HB 2962.  The OHRC said the bill would have commissioned a study to understand student’s instructional needs caused by school shutdowns. That bill did not get out of committee. It is linked: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2021R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2962/A-Engrossed