Hillsboro School District Weekly Hot News March 16, 2026 - March Revenue Forecast and Legislative Session Update

Oregon’s 2026 Legislative Session concluded on Friday, March 6. Capped at a maximum of 35 days, these “short sessions” held in even-numbered years are intended to serve as a clean-up opportunity for making small tweaks to budgets and technical fixes to policies. Despite that, more than 300 bills were introduced this session - 62 of which could have potentially affected students and schools. A big question heading into the session was whether mid-year cuts to K-12 education would be announced. Primary reasons for this were the anticipated effects of federal income tax cuts on Oregon’s income tax collections and ongoing economic uncertainty. Shortly after the session began, however, lawmakers received the March Economic and Revenue Forecast, which showed Oregon’s financial position had improved from December’s quarterly forecast. Contributors to this improved position were a higher than projected ending fund balance for the 2023-25 biennium and stronger than anticipated Corporate Income Tax collections. While the state’s net available resources for the 2025-27 biennium are still down $283.2 million from the close of session forecast in June of 2025, the currently projected ending fund balance is back in the positive at $197.9 million. During their session, legislators passed Senate Bill 1507 to partially disconnect Oregon’s tax code from the federal tax code. Specifically, this was done in response to the passage of federal House Resolution 1 last summer, which included several tax breaks that were estimated to result in a loss in state tax revenue of nearly $900 million. Senate Bill 1507 aims to protect $300 million or more of that revenue by limiting deductions for bonus depreciation, car loan interest, and stock sales.Likely because of the favorable revenue forecast, passage of SB 1507, and strong advocacy efforts from education supporters, elected officials did not require any mid-year cuts to education. This is welcome news for K-12 districts, many of which are already gearing up for reductions to their 2026-27 budgets. For more information on the 2026 Legislative Session, visit our website at www.hsd.k12.or.us