State of Oregon's Special Education Stipend through Oregon Department of Education (ODE)
January 11, 2025

March 25, 2025 Update

The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) has issued their Intent to Award Letter stating each recipient will receive $445.86. Please note that PPS will withhold any income tax or other amounts as required by law, including any mandatory contributions under PERS or OPSRP. As shared below in the timeline, qualifying staff can expect to receive the stipend on their June paycheck.

Overview

The Legislature allocated funding to the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) for providing one-time payments to Oregon’s special education staff in the 2024-25 school year. The purpose of these funds are to recognize the critical services staff provide to students served by Oregon’s public special education programs, as well as to support retention of qualified special education professionals.

The source of this funding is the state of Oregon’s General Fund. Senate Bill 5506 (2023) directed ODE to request funding in the interim Legislative Session, eventually allocated through SB 5701 (2024), for $8.9 million to provide stipends to licensed educators and classified school employees working in special education during the 2024-2025 school year. The definitions of special education staff found in Section 5 of SB 283 (2023) inform ODE’s understanding of the types of qualifying staff under the law. On October 17, 2024, the State Board of Education adopted administrative rules to implement the stipend program (OAR 581-017-1000).

Stipend Amount
At this time the amount of the stipend is unknown. The amount each employee receives is dependent on the number of qualifying employees across the state of Oregon. The total amount allocated to this program will be split equally between all qualifying employees - regardless of position, location, or FTE amount - this means half time employees will receive the same stipend amount as full time employees. 

Timeline

 

Qualifying Employees

It is important to note that just because a job title is listed below does not mean all employees are eligible. Employees must be in both the job title and the corresponding department or school as of 12/2/2024 to be eligible. Per ODE requirements, in order to remain eligible to receive the stipend at the end of the school year, employees must still be employed, working in a qualifying position/department/school and cannot have been on leave for more than half of the school year.

As stated above, per the ODE requirements, all qualifying employees will receive the same stipend amount, it is not prorated based on position, location, or FTE amount.

Please review the employee job and department/school list below to determine if you are eligible for the stipend. Eligibility rules were established by the legislature and Oregon Department of Education:

• Employees must have been employed and working in the eligible position/department/school as of December 2, 2024; and 
• Work with students receiving special education services as identified on an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) 75% or more of their day; and
• Remain in an eligible position/department/school through the school year; and
• Remain employed through the date the stipend is issued; and
• Work more than 50% of the school year.

Note - Employees who resign or are on leave for half the school year or more are not eligible to receive the stipend and PPS is required to return your stipend amount to ODE.

CRIS = Columbia Regional Inclusive Services which includes Blind and Visually Impaired, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and Autism Services
CTP = Community Transition Program
SPED = Special Education