SALEM — Oregon teenagers who spent time in foster care were less than half as likely as their classmates in the class of 2017 to graduate on time.

The graduation rate for teenagers who spent any amount of their high school years in foster care was 35 percent, according to figures quietly reported by the Oregon Department of Education at the end of last year. The Oregonian/OregonLive is the first news organization in Oregon to report the abysmally low rate.

The state was able to identify 501 high school students who spent time in foster care, out of a 2017 class of 46,155 total students. That means just over 1 percent spent time in foster care.

Under a new federal law that took effect last year, states are supposed to report foster children’s graduation rates along with school test results on annual school performance reports. But according to the national education news site The 74, Oregon is one of just 16 states that have made the information available to the public. The news site reported that although the Obama administration required states to publish that data by the end of 2018, the Republican-controlled Congress voted to eliminate the deadline to begin reporting the information.

Of the states that did release their rates, Oregon had by far the lowest rate. New Hampshire was the next worst, at 44 percent, followed by Washington at 46 percent, the 74 reported.

Oregon test results showed 31 percent of children in foster care during the 2017-2018 school year scored proficient in reading and writing and just 18 percent scored as proficient in math. That compared with all-student proficiency rates of 55 percent in reading and writing and 41 percent in math.

The subject of education outcomes for Oregon children in foster care bubbled up in the Legislature this session, with a proposal by Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, and Rep. Duane Stark, R-Grants Pass, to require caseworkers to track foster children’s educational progress at monthly meetings.

Gelser said the proposal arose out of frustration that no individual or government agency is currently tasked with tracking how foster children are doing in school. But she plans to scrap much of the bill, saying that it would not be practical to add new requirements for overburdened caseworkers.

Senate Bill 475 is scheduled for a work session, when it could be amended and received a vote, at a Thursday afternoon meeting of the Senate Committee on Human Services.

— Hillary Borrud | hborrud@oregonian.com | 503-294-4034 | @hborrud

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