The agency has mismanaged some of the $3.1 million in state cash linked to the new regulations, according to a former Oregon Department of Education official who was assigned to oversee the implementation of a 2023 legislation that makes it more difficult for school districts to assign high-needs students to fewer than a full day of school.
Allison Watkins claims in a lawsuit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Wednesday that she and her team, who were entrusted with assisting school districts in complying with the new law established by Senate Bill 819, were being diverted to other unrelated projects, despite her repeated attempts to notify her supervisors that the funds were being mismanaged.
