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To: Superintendents, Principals, Oregon Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Coordinators and Teachers, SSA Advisory Groups, State Board of Education, Oregon Social Sciences, Charter School Leaders, ODE Ongoing Rules Community Advisory, K-12 Public Information Officers
From: Haedon Brunelle, Rules Coordinator, Oregon Department of Education
Date: April 3, 2025
Re: Student Voices Needed: Applications Open to Participate in ODE’s 2025-26 Rulemaking Process
Dear Education Leaders,
The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) and the Oregon State Board of Education (SBE) are looking for incoming high school juniors and seniors to participate in Oregon’s K-12 administrative rulemaking processes as either a Student Member of ODE’s Ongoing Rules Community Advisory (ORCA) or a Student Advisor to the State Board of Education for the 2025-26 school year.
Key Dates
Action Needed
If you know a current high school sophomore or junior (someone who will be a junior or senior during the 2025-26 school year) that might be:
- Interested in learning about Oregon’s K-12 Administrative Rules and how they impact our state education system;
- Willing to participate in group discussions and provide feedback, including constructive criticism, to ODE staff regarding draft rule language; and
- Committed to attending student pre-meetings and monthly full meetings of either the ORCA (for Student Members) or SBE (for Student Advisors) between August 2025 and June 2026.
Please direct them to this bulletin, which includes more information on each of these engagement opportunities and the application process.
Background
The Ongoing Rules Community Advisory (ORCA) is an engagement body hosted by the Oregon Department of Education. ORCA members are volunteers representing various perspectives within our education systems, each with their own lived experiences and bodies of work. This includes school leadership, licensed and classified staff, student voices, parent voices, culturally specific and community-based organizations, education service districts, tribal voices and state education partners. The ORCA itself does not make decisions for, nor recommendations to, ODE. ORCA members instead provide their unique perspectives and feedback to the department as one element of our larger rulemaking process.
The Oregon State Board of Education (SBE) works on providing equitable policies and practices that lead to the educational and life success of every Oregon student. It envisions an aspirational education system that honors its increasingly diverse student body and affirms every student to reach their full potential in a rapidly shifting global environment. Alongside the Oregon Legislature, the Oregon Department of Education and Oregon’s Governor, the Board provides leadership for Oregon’s 197 school districts and 19 Education Service Districts. ODE develops rules for consideration by the Oregon State Board of Education, which is the only body authorized to adopt, amend, repeal or renumber our education-related rules.
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