PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Public Schools board voted Monday to approve around $30 million in cuts for the 2024-2025 school year budget. The board also made a last-minute change that restored funding to equity programs.
Before the board approved the budget, school board Chair Gary Hollands proposed an amendment. It moved $1.8 million from the district's reserve funds back into its Racial Equity and Social Justice contract budget.
Without the amendment, proposed budget cuts would have threatened after-school programs like those provided by Self Enhancement, Inc. (SEI). SEI is a year-round program that gives Black students and their families academic support and wrap-around services.
During public comment, Jefferson High School graduate Dahki Davis shared what SEI meant to him.
"To be in this world, they don't set us up to succeed, and SEI gives us that backbone, gives us that confidence, to want to be something in our life outside of just Portland," Davis said.
SEI President and CEO Tony Hopson expressed frustration over having to fight for funding.
"For us to have to come to the table to fight is just insulting to me," Hopson said. "We give the district more than the district gives us. For every dollar you give us, we bring $9 to support children and families in our communities."
In the end, the school board agreed and passed the amendment, but not without some budgetary push back.
"What I'm not going to support is an amendment that pretends we've got $1.8 million, but we don't know where it's from yet," said board member Andrew Scott.
Interim Superintendent Sandy Husk indicated additional budgetary details would be worked out between now and June 11, when the budget is set to be adopted. Currently, the district has a policy to keep its reserve funds at 5%. Husk verified that the $1.8 million dollar amendment would take the fund below 5%. If necessary, she said the board would create a resolution next month to waive that policy to make it work. Husk also noted the difficulty of shaping the budget around $30 million in cuts.
"Our guiding principals were to try — emphasis on try — to minimize the impact on students," said Husk. "We know this will have an impact on students, we know it's painful. And we're trying to do it with the best support systems that we can."