This worksheet will allow you to set priorities, make the spending trade-offs and establish an overall plan for balancing the Portland Public Schools budget for the 2006-07 school year. Portland Public Schools faces a $57 million shortfall next year. The School Board and Superintendent have developed a two-part strategy: Netting $33 million from one-time budget decisions and making $24 million in cost reductions that are sustainable for the long run.

The $33 million net in one-year decisions may include initial costs and investments for initiatives, balanced by spending down PPS reserves and asking our community partners (state, city, county and business) to provide $21 million toward the shortfall. If our community partners fall short, the Board would consider cutting days from the school year to make up the difference. A shorter school year is considered a one-time option, however: State law requires a full school year, and allows school districts only 12 months to return to compliance if they violate that standard.

By marking the boxes below, you may decide how you would balance the budget, with savings balanced against costs, marked in red. At the bottom of the worksheet, the budget balancing box below will calculate a total and let you see how close your picks come to meeting the budget shortfall.

All dollar figures are in MILLIONS, and are rounded to the nearest $100,000. Some are estimates. This is just a budgeting exercise. The actual budget will present specific figures, to the dollar.

Portland Public Schools operates schools with as few as 201 students, and as many as 1,820. Many schools were built to house twice as many students as they currently serve. By reconfiguring schools -- merging two adjacent schools, creating K-8 schools or making other changes -- Portland Public Schools could serve students more efficiently in fewer buildings. (Some may need to be closed because of lack of enrollment from neighborhood or building condition.)

Costs for building maintenance and administrative staff would drop, while slightly larger schools might offer economies of scale in preserving or increasing electives, music, art, PE and health, library services, counselors and support services. Transportation costs might rise, and some school families might choose other options for their students. In the first year, the sustainable savings from the reconfiguration would be offset by one-time costs of moving and facilities renovations.

These projected costs and savings are rough estimates; any actual proposal affecting schools would offer more precise measures of the costs and benefits.

81% of the district’s budget pays for salaries and benefits, for teachers, school and office staff. You may choose to make reductions that apply to all school district employees. Remember that employees have in years past made sacrifices, such as accepting pay freezes, or in the case of teachers, working 10 days for free in 2003, to help the school district during tough financial times. These changes would have to be bargained with the unions who represent most school district workers.

Control the costs of providing health care coverage. PPS now pays $829 a month for teachers, and about $779 for other employees. Teachers pay $76 a month in premiums, other employees pay from $0 to $92, depending on the size of their family and their health plan. The savings figures assume the new caps start mid year. Redesigning the health care plan coverage, employee co-pays or other options could lower reduce the monthly premium cost-shifting to employees. The full savings would not accrue in the first year, because the new health plan year starts in February 2007. These proposals are subject to collective bargaining.

Funding from other jurisdictions. Partners at the state, city and county have proposed to provide funding to help Portland Public Schools and other school districts within their jurisdictions.

The City of Portland may provide funding, from increasing revenues, their reserves, continuation of the business license fee surcharge, or extension of the utility franchise fee to cellphones. Each of those would help all school districts in the city; the dollar amount shown is PPS's share. You may choose more than one of these options.

The School Board could save money by cutting days from the school year, which means not paying staff during the furlough. Days could be cut in blocks of time, at the beginning, middle or end of the school year, or days could be cut throughout the school year, perhaps by closing on a certain number of Fridays. The savings range from $700,000 to $1 million per day cut, depending on the schedule. This is a one-time only option; state law does not allow a short school year two years in a row.

YOUR BUDGET CHOICES: Savings and investments

Thank you for participating in this budget exercise! If you were not able to balance the budget, you may go back and select new options.

Remember that revenues from state and local partners are far from certain. Also, when completing this worksheet, it might be easy to rely heavily on one-time budget cuts and one-time funding. Relying too heavily on short-term funding means next year Portland Public Schools will be right back in the same place, cutting its budget as temporary funding ends. The Superintendent and School Board have set a goal of relying on one-time actions for a maximum of $33 million, as they plan to set a sustainable course for our schools and our students' future.

You may share your budget balancing choices by clicking the "submit" button below. Your ideas will help inform the discussion as the Superintendent and School Board make their budget decisions.