These state profiles were developed in close collaboration with the teams from our State Action Collaborative and are a snapshot of the current policy landscape of each state in the collaborative. They reflect a combination of publicly available information on alternative education policy from state department websites and information shared by team members directly.
Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 336.615 defines an alternative education program as “a school or separate class group designed to best serve students’ educational needs and interests and assist students in achieving the academic standards of the school district and the state.”
Oregon had 32 private and 40 public alternative schools in 2024–25.†
There were approximately 5,147 students enrolled in 2024–25; however, this does not include 24 public alternative programs that are invisible to ODE because of reporting rules.†
Alternative programs serve students through age 21 or high school diploma.
Parents or guardians may enroll a student in a public or private alternative education program if:
Oregon calculates Per Pupil Net Operating Expenditure (PPNOE) by dividing total district revenue by the weighted student count. To account for increased support needs, students who are pregnant, parenting, or receiving special education services are counted as two full-time students in the formula, doubling their funding weight.
School districts that contract with private alternative education providers must fund these programs at the greater of 80 percent of the district’s PPNOE or the actual documented cost of serving the individual student.
A student enrolled in an alternative education program is considered enrolled in the schools of the district offering the program for purposes of the distribution of the State School Fund. An alternative education program that is offered to a student who is not a resident of the school district may bill tuition to the school district where the student is a resident.
Oregon's school accountability system evaluates schools using a variety of indicators including academic achievement, student growth, graduation rates, chronic absenteeism, English learner progress, and grade 9 on-track data. According to Oregon Administrative Rule 581-022-2505, school districts are required to adopt policies and procedures for the approval and annual evaluation of both public and private alternative education programs receiving public funds. However, there is no accounting for a school’s alternative status in state accountability reporting, and the four-year cohort graduation rate of students in these programs is attributed back to their “most recently accountable high school.”
Oregon recognizes that districts cannot always meet the needs of all students, so they allow for community-based organizations to fill gaps in services (ORS 336.631). Parents/guardians can enroll their child in a public or private alternative education program if it meets the student's educational needs and interests and the program is appropriate and accessible. Additionally, those community-based organizations are not required to have all teachers appropriately certified, allowing for staffing that is more flexible and more likely to mirror the demographics of the student population (ORS 336.635). Contracts with private programs must be included in the school district’s effectiveness assessment (ORS 329.085), ensuring oversight and quality control.
†Information provided by State Action Collaborative members.