Emma Ambroziak / The Mossy Log
The Portland Public Schools (PPS) Board of Education held a press conference on Jan. 22 to update the public on the budget shortfall for the coming 2025-26 school year. Superintendent Dr. Kimberlee Armstrong announced that the local school district is now facing a $40 million deficit.
During the conference, Armstrong attributed the deficit to “rising costs, limited funding, and declining enrollment.” The shortfall has forced the district to cut support staff as part of their new budget proposal. Roles affected include social-emotional support staff, instructional coaches, academic interventionists and kindergarten assistants.
These targeted occupations were tentatively selected by PPS due to their minimal role in classroom instruction. Currently, the district plans to cut 30% of jobs across these occupations, but are listening to feedback from the community on what services they would like to prioritize through the necessary budget cuts.
The district estimates that, in total, this will result in the planned removal of 230 total positions, 207 of which work directly in schools, as opposed to working in administrative roles. Yet, Armstrong explained that these numbers may change due to natural attrition, such as the retirement or relocation of teachers from the district.
PPS is the largest school district in the state of Oregon, serving more than 44,000 students K-12 throughout the Portland area. However, enrollment numbers are falling as young families are deterred from the high costs associated with living in Portland, or as they opt-in to private and online schools.
While the press conference brought tough news, it does not come as a surprise — PPS has faced steep budget shortfalls since the 2022-2023 school year. According to the district’s budget process website, PPS has made $75 million in budget cuts over the last three years. This coming year’s $40 million in reductions is the greatest across the past few years, a reason for why staff present in schools are now foreseeing pay cuts.
Oregon calculates funding for districts on a student-based system, called the Average Daily Membership (ADM). Districts receive funding based on the average attendance in public schools, where each student is attributed a standard point of 1.00. Additional weights can change this value, such as special education (+1), English language learners (+0.5) and students in poverty (+0.25).
While the point system helps to approximate the budget needed for appropriate operating costs, the ADM can be affected by poor attendance rates across the district. This trend, also called absenteeism, was evident among the 34% of K-12 students who missed more than 10% of school days during the 2023-24 school year. This amount — in comparison to an absentee rate of only 19% in the 2018-19 school year — is a growing concern as schools struggle to bounce back from the large impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alpngside the rise in absenteeism, this trend reflects a broader national decline in public school enrollment, with 29 states seeing a decline greater than 2.0% between 2019 and 2023. This, compounded with the increasing amount spent per student to account for inflation, has forced public schools to slash their spending.
“(We have) the first opportunity to begin to address the crisis that many urban cities see across the nation,” Armstrong said.
Much like PPS experiencing declining K-12 enrollment, some of the largest public school districts across the nation are facing decreasing attendance rates.
On a typical timeline, this type of announcement would be made in March or April, and the budget would be finalized in the latter half of July. This year’s early announcement was intended to give community members the opportunity to provide feedback. Board members during the press conference were passionate about including the community during these tough, but unfortunately necessary, choices.
The public is encouraged to engage with this developing budget plan, advocating for services they deem as necessary to protect. Over the next several months, community members are encouraged to get involved via the PPS Budget Engagement Feedback Form, contact legislators on the Education Committee and keep an eye on upcoming engagement events.
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