Oregon Senate lawmakers called in officials from the state Department of Education this week to explain why the agency is struggling to clear a backlog of school discrimination complaints despite the Legislature approving more staff and funding to tackle the problem in 2024.

The hearing comes after an Oregonian/OregonLive investigation published last month found that students and families routinely waited more than 15 months for the state to decide whether school districts violated Oregon’s anti-discrimination law. Some waited years for a resolution, including a mother and daughter highlighted by the newsroom whose case has been open for five years.

Since the state first set a deadline to complete discrimination investigations and issue decisions in 2019, it has met its own standard

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