Portland Public Schools faces $50 million budget deficit, anticipates mass layoffs

The Portland school district will soon be laying off hundreds of employees to address its $50 million budget gap.

Portland Public Schools (PPS) announced its plan to eliminate about 300 positions in anticipation of massive budget deficit coming next year.

“Simply put, expenditures are rising faster than revenues,” said PPS Chief Financial Officer Michelle Morrison. “Enrollment is declining, and because so much of our budget goes to staffing, fewer students means fewer dollars, which also means fewer staff.”

PPS has been struggling to stay afloat fiscally for years.

Back in the 2022-23 school year, the district cut $30 million. The next year, $10 million. The next, $15 million.

This year, it faced $40 million in needed reductions, and now, looking forward to 2026-27, it faces an additional $50 million.

Part of the problem Portland and other public schools face is the massive inflation in administrative, non-teaching positions.

Between 2000 and 2019, the student population nationwide grew 8%, the teacher population 9%, while district administration grew by a massive 88%.

But with so many positions being cut, the Portland teachers’ union is afraid educators will be affected too.

“I can’t imagine how we get to 200 or 300 FTE [Full-Time Equivalent] cuts without layoffs of educators,” said Angela Bonilla, president of the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT). “I do know that some of the cuts include counselors and other mental health professionals.”

However, the union may have contributed to the district’s financial woes.

In the fall of 2023, PAT went on strike with left-wing demands such as:

• Professional development on racial equity, restorative justice, implicit bias, anti-racism and culturally responsive practices 

• “Play-based curriculum and the right to nap” for preschool students 

• Universal pre-K for 3-year-olds 

• No standardized testing beyond state requirements 

• Housing subsidies for low-income families 

It also wanted 21.5% pay raises over three years.

PAT’s financial demands were so outrageous they were publicly criticized by Steve Lancaster, the union’s former bargaining chair.

Lancaster blamed the union for overestimating the district’s available funds and lacking a “plausible financial strategy.”

“Misestimating what they have or what ours costs by $10 or $20 million dollars is not problematic,” he wrote, “but getting it wrong by $50 or $100 million, (as happened in this negotiation) can be a disaster.”