Cesar Chavez SchoolParent Resources
Did you know?
The Portland Public Schools Budget: Increasing Accountability, Decreasing Revenue.
Portland Public Schools faces a shortfall of $57 million next year in the General Fund, the core budget that pays for teachers and operations in every school. Several factors combined to create this budget shortfall:
- The state cut support for schools again.
- PPS’s local option property tax and capital bond levy ended last year.
- The three-year voter approved county income tax ends in June 2006, causing a loss of another $50 million in annual revenue.
For some measure of how much $57 million means in the PPS budget:
- It is the cost of 750 teachers’ positions.
- Closing schools for 75 days would save $57 million.
- The cost of the central administration $14.9 million, or 4 percent of the budget (that’s the Superintendent’s and Board’s offices, public information, legal, finance and payroll, human resources, professional development and curriculum support, research and evaluation).
Mayor Tom Potter plans to present a measure to city voters in May that would support all five school districts within city limits. Meanwhile, the Portland School Board will prepare two budgets: One that cuts $57 million to live within the current revenue forecast, and another that would include revenue from the city School Tax, if voters approve it in May.
