Many school districts already make available recordings of their school board meetings online. Bend-La Pine Schools already does it and even makes available a version in Spanish.

But school districts and Oregon’s public colleges are not required to do that. Senate Bill 1502 would make it a requirement. Small districts with less than 50 students would not be required to comply. Executive sessions would remain private.

The bill easily passed out the Senate and may become law, just as easily.

It didn’t get outright opposition from the Oregon School Employees Association. It didn’t get an endorsement, either.

“Increasing accessibility of meeting recordings also, unfortunately, empowers individuals whose goals are disruptive and potentially harmful to the educational process,” it argued in testimony. “Since the onslaught of the pandemic, we have seen a significant increase in the frequency and severity of meeting disruptions, doxxing and threats of violence toward educators who are simply trying to do their jobs supporting Oregon students. It takes little effort on the part of bad actors to turn clips from school board recordings into social media misinformation about school district activities.”

The organization has a point. But a similar argument could be made of any information released, if it is done in a public meeting. The fear of people behaving badly doesn’t mean the bill should be stopped. Oregon should make it easy for the public to find out what is going on in their schools.