PORTLAND, Ore. — The interim superintendent for Oregon's largest school district will present next year's budget proposal to the Board of Education by the end of the month. Portland Public Schools (PPS) has announced around $30 million in proposed cuts: half from central operations and half from schools.
With the timeline looming, a group of staff who are part of the Portland Teachers Association (PAT) expressed their concerns Tuesday afternoon about how proposed cuts to special education service positions could impact students with disabilities across the district.
"It's going to fall on school-based staff that are here to take on additional roles related to assistive technology, related to complex feeding needs, behavioral needs of students," said one speaker at the rally. "We are already doing the best we can, with the minimal amount we can. We can't take any more away. I'm sorry."
A board-certified behavior analyst with PPS said the proposed cuts will have a big impact on students.
"We're doing a school board meeting outside, the people's school board meeting, so we can discuss these cuts," said Mike Carlip. "Every year, time and again, it's student-facing positions that are cut, impacting our students, while we still have this top-heavy, bloated organization happening."
Carlip and others said they'd like the district to reconsider reducing positions like his and make the money work for these students.
"These vital, vital services are being cut," Carlip said. "How are (students) going to get these services now, now that all of the experts in these services are being cut?"
District officials claim the cuts — which could impact more than a dozen positions, according to the union —aren't cuts at all, so much as "staffing shifts" as part of PPS's Special Education Program Improvement Plan. District leaders also tell families who've asked that while they have to make $30 million in cuts from this upcoming budget, that's not the primary driver behind these changes.