Layoffs were on everyone’s mind at Tuesday’s Portland Public Schools board meeting.

Scott Elementary third grader Naima Truss was the first to bring them up.

“Budget cuts affect real people like my mom, who was a history teacher at Lincoln High School,” Truss shared. “My mom is a great teacher and still was laid off this year.”

Minutes later, a representative for the Portland Association of Teachers spoke on behalf of another teacher, Moe Yonamine, who has been with the district for 13 years in various roles.

“[She] could not be here because she’s gravely ill due to the stress impacts of her layoff as a single mother of four,” the PAT rep said.

Portland school board member Christy Splitt mentioned her daughter’s second grade teacher, who was also a part of the layoffs.

“I cried tears before I had to tell my daughter, and then we cried together, and then we cried all week,” Splitt said, starting to cry.

As of June 25, PPS has laid off 87 staff in student-facing positions throughout the district. That’s in addition to several layoffs of central office staff and others who have worked at the district for years. In total, the district has reduced staffing by 322 full-time equivalent positions.

It’s all in an effort to balance another tight budget for the 2026-2027 school year.

But Tuesday’s tears weren’t a strong enough argument to sway the school board. The emotional testimony couldn’t offset the risks that would come with postponing the budget vote, tapping into minimal reserves, or having more painful budget decisions in the future. And with state leaders not budging on calls to tap into the state’s Education Stability Fund, the Portland school board had to move forward.

Desperate pleas — and tough decisions

The union representing Portland teachers has spoken out about the layoffs, saying all but a few of PPS’ 87 layoffs violate PAT’s contract with the district.

Those layoffs also include staff who are new to teaching, but not new to the district.

During the pandemic, support staff at schools were encouraged to move into teaching positions to address shortages in the state. Oregon even formalized it with a Grow Your Own grant program, started in 2020.

But the years those staff members put in before they were members of PAT are excluded from seniority for layoff decisions. That’s how a school counselor like Niki Trueblood, who has been at PPS for 12 years, was part of the layoffs.

“I chose to stay in PPS because I believe in this work,” Trueblood said. “I accepted a significant pay cut to become an elementary school counselor.”

Trueblood is also one of the few Native American educators in the district. In addition to her counselor role, she worked with middle schoolers as part of an affinity group for students of color. She said those students were showing signs of progress.

“They were showing up and their attendance was improving and that was not just me, but it was working together as a team in our school,” she said tearfully.

“But we break their trust when we remove their adults that they rely on.”

Sitting next to Trueblood, Portland city councilor and former teacher Tiffany Koyama Lane put it succinctly as she addressed the board: “I know you all are in an impossible position,” she said.

PPS board weighs delays, reserves

School board members Stephanie Engelsman, Virginia La Forte and Rashelle Chase-Miller proposed several last-minute amendments to the budget, with three of them failing to make it past the board.

An amendment to pause new contracts on generative artificial intelligence until the board comes up with a relevant policy passed unanimously. The amendment also asks the district to provide a districtwide assessment of AI systems, contracts, and educational impacts within 120 days.

Another amendment to freeze “discretionary travel” for the school board and PPS leadership also passed unanimously. But the hurried nature of the amendments drew criticism from several board members, including vice-chair Michelle DePass.

“I just think that we all deserve the same courtesy in terms of getting things on time,” DePass said. She also questioned whether the travel amendment was worth it, as PPS leadership explained a current freeze on non-necessary travel.

“We don’t really know the impact, we’re not sure what the dollar figure is,” DePass said.

La Forte, who wrote the amendment, said the travel freeze shows the community that the board is willing to tighten its purse strings too.

“If it’s five dollars, it’s worth passing for me,” she said.

Then there were the amendments that actually had to do with passing the budget.

Engelsman spoke first, sharing her resolution to reinstate the $13.1 million in funding for staff in student-facing positions who had been laid off.

“It’s not my job or our job to come up with finding the money,” she said. “It’s our job to protect the students.”

But her amendment posed a risk to the district, with a June 30 deadline to pass a budget.

The desperation on the dais was palpable as board members pleaded with one another to postpone the budget vote a week, which would put PPS right up to the June 30 deadline. Board member Rashelle Chase-Miller floated an amendment to tap into the district’s $41 million in reserves. But spending that much would put the district under its goal to have at least 5% of district funds held in reserve.

Both efforts failed.

As the board meeting stretched into Wednesday morning, the board approved the budget with one board member — Engelsman — abstaining.

All night long, board members spoke to the elephant in the room: state leaders and legislators who have refused to tap into a state education fund despite calls for financial help from districts across the state.

“Maybe Salem is looking at this board meeting,” said board member Patte Sullivan.

Others were more resigned.

“There’s no hope in Salem right now,” DePass said.

A goal to end the cuts “in the next two years”

Portland’s been in a tough financial situation before. Board chair Eddie Wang, who was a teacher in the district for 20 years, said this is worse.

“I’ve lived through the 2010 budget cuts,” Wang said. “Remember those? That was cake compared to this.”

PPS Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong warned that the tough times are not yet over for PPS. Next fall, Armstrong will present her plan for school closures, with boundary changes needed to accommodate those changes. More budget cuts are nearly certain next year. The state legislature appears likely to discuss school funding in 2027, but it’s unclear whether increased state support is coming.

The push to bring back laid-off educators will also continue. Koyama Lane has shared plans to pack a July school board meeting to ask the board to “be ready to save as many of those jobs as possible.”

Armstrong wants to end Portland’s cycle of steep budget cuts.

“My hope and my goal is to end it in the next two years,” she told the board Tuesday.

“We’re in a very risky state and my job and my responsibility is to stabilize Portland as fast as possible. And that’s what me and the team are working to do.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/06/25/portland-public-schools-budget-painful-layoffs/