A projected declining enrollment for next school year has forced Portland Public Schools to make major cuts in both the central office and in the 86 schools in the district, including Cleveland. Since there was first news of 8.55 teacher positions “cut” moving into the next school year, students and teachers at Cleveland have been curious about the precise impacts of new budget cuts. This was not a decision made by administrators at Cleveland, but by the broader state of Oregon and the district who have decided to preserve the bare minimum educational resources.
The district’s budgeting process evaluates staffing by gauging the number of projected students in the following year. Cleveland has a considerably lower projected enrollment for the next school year, of 1325 students. Currently there are 1450 students–a number that has already dropped significantly compared to last year. Generally, Portland Public Schools is projected to have 600 fewer students in the ‘24-’25 school year. Cleveland only happens to be disproportionately impacted by a larger rate of declining enrollment compared to other schools.
Next year’s budget will include, “$30 million in cuts. Since 90% of our budget pays for the costs of operating schools, the impact on schools is unavoidable. We intend to minimize cuts to schools, and cover half of the overall budget gap, by reducing $15 million from central operations. This represents about 6% of overall central office budgets, and follows $40 million in previous reductions over the last two years. The remaining $15 million in budget cost reductions will be shared among our 86 schools (or about 2% of school-based budgets),” according to a district email.
Principal JoAnn Wadkins explained that she met with district officials to go over the projected enrollment, which originally was 1303, and the district adjusted the number to 1325. The adjustment meant that Cleveland had to cut 7.55 FTE (Full Time Equivalent). The budget cuts would place one teacher in proportion to around 25 students.
“That’s the number I had to work with. At that point, myself and my team, we look at our programming, and we do have to offer and be able to guarantee what’s called the ‘core high school program.’ Every student needs to be able to take the classes they need to graduate high school, and that does include electives. What I’ve said in general, is that it’s impacted throughout all our programs,” Wadkins said.
Moving forward, Wadkins encourages concerned community members to advocate for improved funding. “The budgeting process is also a dynamic process. The school board will eventually vote on the final budget for Portland Public Schools for the next school year. School leaders, teachers, students should continue to advocate, I feel, with the state of Oregon for fully adequate funding for public schools,” Wadkins said.
However the budget may be adjusted, administrators must face that enrollment is declining. Enrollment in all public schools is based on neighborhood boundaries that form a catchment area, which cannot be aided with PPS budgeting adjustments.
Wadkins believes the modernization process may have influenced enrollment numbers. “Other high schools that have gone through the modernization process did see a decline in their enrollment during that process, and then the enrollment goes back up once a new school is built and functional and open to students. The community knows that our school is basically up to be modernized for the school to be modernized. We can’t be in the building. We have to have school somewhere else and that somewhere else is the Marshall campus,” she said.
