Portland Public Schools (PPS) is facing a $14 million budget deficit for the current academic year. According to Superintendent Dr. Kimberlee Armstrong in a press conference, next year’s budget deficit will be at least $50 million. She expects the funding shortage to grow as the budget plan becomes actualized with revenue and expenditures.
Lincoln Principal Peyton Chapman says several factors drive the financial crisis. The largest issue is rising employment costs.
“The number one cost to the district is employees,” Chapman said. She explained that although state funding has increased in recent years, it has not kept pace with rising expenses.
PPS enrollment is another contributing factor to budget deficits. State funding for public schools in Oregon is based on enrollment, according to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission. PPS enrollment has dropped 12% since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to The Oregonian. PPS’s most recent projections, collaborating with the Portland State University Population Research Center, predict enrollment will keep declining over the next nine years.
According to Chapman, other major financial pressure stems from a decades-old problem within the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System. The state promised public employees larger retirement payouts after a pension miscalculation, but those payouts have become increasingly difficult for districts to fund. To avoid eliminating programs, PPS schools may increase class sizes.
Chapman said cutting programs such as world languages and or arts courses could discourage families from enrolling at Lincoln, potentially creating a cycle of further low enrollment and funding losses.
One PPS strategy to aid this financial crisis is implementing furlough days, which are unpaid non-work days. Friday, May 1 will be a non-school day, and the last day of school will now be June 5. April 22 and May 13 are now full instructional days, as opposed to the previously planned late arrival/early release. These days help reduce expenditures by having staff work less, therefore decreasing pay while keeping them employed. However, no final decisions have been made on how the budget will be reduced.
Junior Anna Toll is a student representative for the Community Budget Review Committee (CBRC), where she sends feedback to PPS relating to the new budget. She took the Biotech class at West Sylvan Middle School, an elective that the school is considering cutting.
“It’s just a shame because it’s a class that is… such an integral part of the community,” said Toll. “The quality of the class and the materials is going to go downhill a little bit.”
Dr. Armstrong will be releasing the budget statement as well as the proposed budget to the board in April, where PPS will be sharing how they plan to allocate the budget. The school board will then review and vote on the proposed budget, and the final budget will be adopted in June.
