The Portland Association of Teachers is collecting signatures to stop or delay the closure of up to 20 Portland Public Schools buildings. The petition adds organized union muscle to a fight that has drawn parents and board members since August.

PPS teacher Emily Golden-Fields and parent Lydia Kiesling made the case for the petition on KBOO community radio Saturday, Sept. 26, framing the potential closures as a threat to roughly 25% of the district's elementary and middle schools. The union is directing supporters to an online petition at tinyurl.com/pauseclosures.

The petition's specific demands could not be confirmed from publicly available materials. But the union's broader position is clear: PAT president Alisha Chavez has argued closures will mean layoffs and heavier workloads for teachers who remain.

"You cannot close schools without increasing the pressure on the schools that remain," Chavez told the school board at its Sept. 1 meeting, as reported by The Oregonian. "Students that move get absorbed into different places and the educators that remain, that weren't laid off in the process, are expected to somehow make it work."

The board voted 5-2 that same night to direct staff to continue modeling scenarios that could close up to 20 schools. Board members Eddie Wang, Rashelle Chase-Miller, Virginia La Forte, Michelle DePass and Patte Sullivan voted yes. Stephanie Engelsman and Christy Splitt dissented.

Splitt, who represents Zone 1, said at the Sept. 1 meeting that the scale of potential closures shook her, according to Willamette Week.

District data shows the scale of the enrollment decline. PPS enrollment fell more than 10% between the 2017-18 and 2024-25 school years, dropping from 47,908 to 42,785 students. The teacher workforce barely budged, going from 2,731 to 2,701, Willamette Week reported.

The district faces a $65.2 million budget reset. Portland State University demographers project enrollment will keep falling, reaching about 36,000 by 2039.

A district model shows closing 15 elementary schools would bring the remaining 30 above a 360-student threshold by 2031-32. In 2025-26, just 27% of elementary schools met that benchmark.

Chavez has also connected the closure fight to city spending priorities. At a Sept. 26 protest outside the Moda Center, she pointed to the city's proposed $365 million arena investment while schools face cuts, KGW reported. PAT contract negotiations with PPS are set to begin in January.

PPS calls the process "rightsizing" and describes it on its website as addressing declining enrollment, rising costs and sustainable use of school facilities. The district is expected to release specific closure scenarios in early October. Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong will then issue a preferred scenario, and the board is scheduled to vote in early December. Buildings could begin closing in fall 2027.