Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek issued an executive order aimed at preventing further erosion of instructional time as districts face budget pressures and students fall behind in math and reading. Kotek said she is hearing from district after district that they are considering providing even less time and directed the Oregon Department of Education to prioritize policies that prevent additional reductions. The state’s school year is among the shortest in the country—165 days on average versus 180 nationwide—with Oregon requiring substantially fewer instructional hours than the typical U.S. benchmark. The executive order also responds to chronic absenteeism that exceeded national averages in 2023–24, further cutting into limited instructional time. Districts that reduced instructional time in the current or next school years must submit plans outlining how they will restore instructional hours to at least 2024–25 levels by the start of the 2027–28 school year.