Teachers demand 'no cuts' as Portland Public Schools discuss $30 million budget shortfall
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Teachers at Portland Public Schools made their voices heard Wednesday night amid a school board meeting discussing $30 million budget cuts which could result in hundreds of jobs being cut.
Many educators said they were upset, saying the proposed cuts may negatively impact students.
“No cuts, no fear. Libraries are needed here,” was the chant from educators heard ringing through the air.
PPS Interim Superintendent Dr. Sandy Husk laid out the budget for the upcoming school year, saying the spending plan so far totals more than $2 billion to support Oregon’s largest school district of 45,000 students. However, she said $30 million is getting slashed from the budget, laying the blame on lack of state funding.
“Our state dollars continue to fall short of costs it takes to operate our schools,” Husk said. “In addition to the federal pandemic aid ending we also have some special revenues from other federal sources that are declining.”
Husk said declining student enrollment is also making a significant impact in the district, with PPS seeing a nearly 10% drop in enrollment since 2020.
“We would be facing reductions even if we had adequate state dollars,” Husk said.
The district said more than 200 positions will be eliminated. Some of the jobs looking to be cut include library assistants and physical education specialists.
Catherine Tucker, a teacher librarian, said she thinks PPS needs to “rethink how they’re doing these cuts, rethink their priorities.”
“We have been fighting so hard to get everything that our students need and they just keep providing us with less and less. I feel like next year in my building we're going to have a skeleton staff,” Tucker said.
Adam Hamler, an adaptive P.E. specialist, said allowing such cuts constitutes a “disservice to the community.”
“Our gen ed kids, our kids with special needs. We have a lot of kids that can't even go into a gym because of the sensory needs they have. So we do modified or adapted lessons outside of the gym or in a different space,” Hamler said.
These budget cuts come months after the PPS board and teachers union approved a contract last November following a month-long strike.
Board members brought their concerns to the table on who would be most impacted by budget cuts.
“We are balancing our budget on the backs of the Black and brown staff,” said PPS Vice Chair Herman Greene. “We are balancing our budget on those who are most marginalized and we are balancing our budgets on those with the most needs. That may not be the case but again I want to see the data that would tell me I'm wrong.”
“There are legitimate concerns parents have when there's a significant change — to a child that has vulnerabilities,” said PPS Board Member Julia Brim-Edwards.
There will be opportunities to give public testimony next month. After that, the board will vote to adopt a final budget in June.