Pencil Launches Write-In Campaign for Oregon Governor

Pencil aims to make education a top priority in the race for Oregon's highest office.

Apr. 1, 2026 at 4:46am

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A pencil has launched a write-in campaign for Oregon governor in an effort to raise awareness about the state's persistent reading proficiency issues among students. The pencil candidate, created and funded by reading advocacy group Oregon Kids Read, hopes to 'get education on the ballot' and spur action from the current governor to address the crisis in youth literacy.

Why it matters

Oregon's low reading scores among 4th and 8th graders have remained stagnant despite significant investments in tutoring, curriculum, and teacher training. The pencil candidate argues that a more systemic approach is needed, pointing to other states that have seen improvements by mandating certain literacy curriculum and requiring teachers to demonstrate knowledge of the 'science of reading'.

The details

Schuberth, a former teacher at Portland State University and co-founder of Oregon Kids Read, launched the Pencil for governor campaign to raise awareness about the state's reading proficiency issues. They created and funded the Pencil Political Action Committee with $14,000 of their own money. The campaign calls for modernizing reading instruction to align with cognitive and neuroscience research, as well as ensuring accurate counting of students living in poverty.

  • Schuberth launched the Pencil for governor campaign on Monday, April 1, 2026.
  • Oregon's 4th and 8th graders scored in the bottom half of all states for reading proficiency in the 2025 National Assessment for Educational Progress.

The players

Schuberth

A former teacher for Portland State University's general education program and one of the founders of reading advocacy group Oregon Kids Read, who launched the Pencil for governor campaign.

Sarah Dougher

The associate executive director of Portland State's General Education Program, who spoke about seeing the downstream effects of students' reading struggles at the university.

Tina Kotek

The current governor of Oregon, whose Early Literacy Success Initiative has not gone far enough to address the most high-needs students or hold schools accountable, according to Schuberth.

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What they’re saying

“It sends a message that if Pencil starts showing up in the primary, that the governors might want to pay attention to this issue and start doing something.”

— Schuberth, Founder, Oregon Kids Read

“We have a crisis. We want people to be talking about it. It is not children's fault. It's not their parents' fault. The Department of Education in Oregon is failing our students. There's a systemic problem that we need to address. And we can fix this.”

— Schuberth, Founder, Oregon Kids Read

“We have majority students from the Portland area here and and we've seen since COVID, a real sort of softening of some skill areas, especially persistence in reading and also in writing.”

— Sarah Dougher, Associate Executive Director, Portland State General Education Program

What’s next

While a pencil cannot legally run for governor in Oregon, Schuberth hopes that the write-in campaign will at least spark a conversation about the state's reading crisis and push the current governor to take more aggressive action.

The takeaway

This unconventional campaign highlights the urgent need to address persistent reading proficiency issues in Oregon, which have remained stagnant despite significant investments. It underscores the systemic nature of the problem and the call for a more comprehensive approach, as seen in other states that have mandated certain literacy curriculum and teacher training.