Oregon school districts may soon be required to test for lead and radon, and then share findings annually along with any proposed repairs, Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday.

Under draft rules headed for the State Board of Education on Thursday, districts would have until Oct. 1 to send the Oregon Department of Education a "Healthy and Safe Facilities Plan" that lays out plans to test for lead, radon and other chemicals.

Districts also would have to produce public reports every year detailing testing, results and needed fixes. If districts didn't follow the rules, they could lose funding from the state's schools fund.

Right now, the state imposes no requirements on schools when it comes to testing or repairing toxic hazards.

"Every child has a right to learn in an environment that is safe," Brown said in a statement. "Any threat to the health and safety of a child in any school or classroom is unacceptable."

But though reports would be due annually, testing may not have to take place every year. The draft rules don't say how often districts should plan to test, just that they follow U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Oregon Health Authority recommendations on how often tests for different areas take place.

The proposed rules also don't say how required testing or planned repairs would be funded. Already on Tuesday, school administrators were raising concerns about resources.

"Once you find something, how are you going to fund that mitigation? Any amount for some school districts is going to be a pretty dramatic impact," said Jim Green, deputy executive director of the Oregon School Boards Association. "The state has to recognize that, yes we want to make our facilities safe, but it'd sure be nice for some school districts to get help."

Brown's announcement comes amid an ongoing public relations crisis in Portland Public Schools, including revelations the district knew about elevated lead levels and didn't immediately release information.

But emails obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive show state officials had decided to focus on lead in school and day care drinking water in April and May, before results in Portland Public Schools went public. Senior officials met May 17 and talked about creating a database for tracking water test results, among other ideas, the emails show.

Brown had asked asked the Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Department of Education to review programs and "provide an assessment of lead" in schools in April, after the water crisis in Flint, Mich., pushed the issue into the spotlight.

On June 8, the two agencies recommended that all of Oregon's day care centers and 197 public school districts test their water for lead this summer.

The next day, six top Oregon legislators said the state should reimburse school districts for the cost of lead testing. They've asked a special legislative committee tasked with making budget allocations in between sessions to set aside money from state reserves.

"If school districts lack the funds to immediately test for lead contamination, the Legislature's Emergency Board must be ready to step in and make sure all students have safe drinking water as soon as possible," the legislators said in a statement.

The proposal going before the Board of Education on Thursday, however, says the cost "will likely exceed any allocation by the Emergency Board."

"The goal is to make sure they have a plan for testing and make information publicly available," said Emily Nazarov, a legislative coordinator with the Department of Education. "Then the community could advocate at their local school board about what repairs are necessary."

The Department of Education would be required to come up with a "model plan" to share with districts, who must submit their own by Oct. 1. The plans would need updating whenever new buildings are "acquired, leased, or otherwise used as a school building."

Each district would also need to designate a person in charge of "maintaining and implementing" the plan.

The draft rules emphasize an assortment of environmental health hazards. Portland schools are still struggling with lead dust and paint, which experts say is more harmful to children.

Portland officials this month also announced radon levels above federal thresholds in more than 120 rooms. The tasteless, odorless and invisible gas can cause lung cancer.

In 2015, lawmakers passed a bill requiring schools test for radon at least once every 10 years.

The governor's plan is meant to tackle children's environmental health in a "holistic way," spokeswoman Melissa Navas said.

"It's not just about the lead in drinking water," she said.

- Talia Richman

trichman@oregonian.com

@TaliRichman