On April 16, 2026, Governor Kotek issued Executive Order 26-06: Preserving Student Instructional Time. The purpose of the executive order is to ensure that all Oregon students have access to sufficient and high-quality instructional time to support their success in school. To this end, the order prevents school districts and public charter schools from further reducing student instructional time during the 2025-26 school year and in the future. In addition, the order requires school districts who have reduced student instructional time to restore time by the start of the 2027-28 school year to the levels that were in place for the 2024-25 school year. To support implementation of this executive order, the State Board of Education has adopted a new emergency rule,
OAR 581-022-2323: Preserving Student Instructional Time, and emergency revisions to
OAR 581-022-2320: Required Instructional Time and
OAR 581-002-0035: Waivers. Permanent rulemaking is scheduled to take place in fall 2026.
Instructional Time Definitions
Instructional time, as defined in the Division 22 Standards, has the meaning established in OAR 581-022-0102(30) and
OAR 581-022-2320. It is time in which students are both:
- Engaged in regularly scheduled instruction, learning activities, or learning assessments
- Learning under the direction of a licensed teacher or an EA under the supervision of a licensed teacher
Student Instructional Time, or bell-to-bell time, is defined as the total hours students are at school, bell-to-bell, including recess, lunch, passing time, and hours of instructional time. This can be calculated as the total amount of time between the start and end of the day, multiplied by the total number of days of that length (repeating the calculation for any planned shortened days, and adding up all of the time planned across the school year).
Understanding Executive Order 26-06 Webinars
The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) will host informational webinars to support district and school leaders in deepening their understanding of Executive Order 26-06. Register for one of the following sessions to attend (all registrants will have access to a recording):
Topics that will be covered:
- Overview of New Requirements
- Instructional Time Survey
- Restoration Plan Submission
- Time for Question