87 Portland Public Schools teachers will not have jobs when classrooms reopen in late August,
On June 23, the school board voted 6-0 with one abstention to adopt a $1.09 billion operating budget that eliminates 320 full-time positions districtwide.
The vote came just before midnight, capping a six-hour special meeting at the Dr. Matthew Prophet Education Center where board members spent roughly two hours brainstorming ways to find $13 million that could have reversed the educator layoffs. Every proposal failed.
Board member Stephanie Engelsman (Zone 6), who introduced the $13 million amendment, cast the lone abstention rather than vote yes or no.
Members floated more than a dozen ideas to close the gap: drawing down the district's $41 million reserve fund below its 5% policy floor, asking corporations to sponsor teacher positions, seeking emergency funding from the City of Portland, requesting across-the-board salary cuts from Portland Association of Teachers members, tapping the state education stability fund, and delaying the vote by a week.
None survived scrutiny. Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong warned that the reserve fund covers less than one month of operations, and dipping below the 5% threshold could damage the district's credit rating as it issues major construction bonds.
The city, facing its own $160 million general fund shortfall, was in no position to help.
"I don't think much is going to change in seven days," board Vice-Chair Michelle DePass said. "Sometimes we need to display courage and do hard things."
PPS has lost 12% of its students since fall 2019 due to falling birthrates, high housing costs, and families choosing other schools. Enrollment projections show another 12% decline over the next decade. Because state funding follows students, fewer kids means less money.
Armstrong said central office has already absorbed $68 million in cuts over four years, proportionally far more than individual school buildings.
She and Chief Financial Officer Michelle Morrison warned that next year's projected shortfall is $65 million, dwarfing this year's $56 million in reductions.
Portland City Council member Tiffany Koyama-Lane, a former Sunnyside K-8 teacher, addressed the board directly, urging members not to leave until they had exhausted every avenue to save educators. Leaders and allies of PAT watched from the audience as the deliberations unfolded.
Board member Christy Splitt offered a blunter assessment of the state's role, saying she had known teacher layoffs were coming for months after legislators signaled there would be no new money.
The budget takes effect Tuesday, July 1. With it adopted, the district will employ about 7% fewer full-time staff than it did before the pandemic.
Armstrong said she hopes to end the cycle of annual reductions within two years. But district leaders project a $65 million gap for 2027-28, and Gov. Tina Kotek has cautioned against tapping the state education stability fund, citing looming federal cuts to Medicaid and food stamps that could strain Oregon's next biennial budget.
The only amendment that passed Tuesday night: Director Virginia La Forte's proposal to suspend discretionary out-of-state travel for board members and senior leaders for one year, saving an estimated $77,000.
