Portland Public Schools, Oregon’s largest school district, will have to cut $30 million from its budget next fiscal year, and officials have suggested they may cut special education staff positions.
This has alarmed advocates for students with disabilities.
In a letter to the Portland School Board last week, two Portland-based advocacy groups, Disability Rights Oregon and FACT Oregon, asked them to meet with members to discuss potential cuts before making any decisions. The district’s 2024-25 budget is due to be finalized on April 23, and the school board is scheduled to vote on approving it in May.
“I understand there are budgetary challenges and I don’t think we’re asking for the impossible. I think the concern is that students with disabilities are too often disproportionately affected by budget cuts,” said Christy Reese, executive director of the disability advocacy group FACT. “They are students who deserve an education just like any other student.”
Portland Public Schools Interim Superintendent Sandy Husk said at the School Committee meeting in March that half of the cuts would come from the district’s central office and the other half from the district’s 81 schools. In late February, Student Services Chief Jay Buno presented a budget proposal to the School Committee that would reduce central administration costs, including by cutting special education staff.
“Next year, there will be a reduction in the number of administrative staff in the Special Education department’s central office to be more efficient and effective,” Buno wrote.
Eight special education positions are being considered for budget cuts, district spokeswoman Sydney Kelly said in an email.
“Special education is only a small part of the cuts that are being discussed,” Kelly said.
Shifting responsibility
The cuts could also include staff who train teachers and classroom aides in using specialized technology to help nonverbal students communicate, and staff who train staff how to safely feed students with feeding tubes. The district plans to shift those responsibilities to speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists already in the district’s schools, but advocates say those professionals currently serve students with twice their salary.
Cuts could also be made to people who help students with disabilities participate in physical education classes, as well as some behavioral health staff.
“The needs of all students who require assistive technology or food needs as outlined in their individualized education plans will be met,” Kelly said.
She said some behavioral health staff from the central office will be redeployed to individual schools.
The district’s budget is $30 million short this year, district leaders say, due to inflation, a drop in federal emergency aid because of the pandemic, declining student enrollment and a lack of adequate funding from the state. The district also needs to find an additional $175 million over the next three years to meet teachers’ contract obligations after a historic three-week strike last fall. Teachers are getting an average pay increase of more than 14 percent over the next three years, more time to plan lessons and a committee to monitor class sizes has been created.
State Sen. Sarah Gelser Bruin, of Corvallis, who has sponsored dozens of bills to increase resources, staffing and protections in schools for students with disabilities, said in an email that this is the worst possible time for school districts to cut special education and behavioral support staff.
“It is surprising that cuts to behavioral supports are being proposed at a time when there is so much discussion about the need for more support to address students’ unmet needs that lead to problematic behavior,” she said. “Throwing kids into classrooms without support for them and the teachers who work with them is sure to fail, with children bearing the consequences.”
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