Dear Members,
Earlier this week, PPS announced that they had discovered a major funding gap for this fiscal year and had taken steps to minimize the impact to schools. This included mid-year layoffs of non-represented employees, cancelling PD days at already underserved schools, and more. The District outlined multiple reasons for this shortfall; many are the result of poor budget planning from last year.
PPS also notified all union leadership that we now have an impossible decision to make: Accept either furlough days or mid-year layoffs, numbering in the hundreds of FTE across all unions, and bargain the impact to our members. Following an emergency all-unions meeting we had some questions for the District, and we will be meeting with the District as a united union front this afternoon (Friday, February 27th).
What we know right now:
- PPS discovered a $22 million dollar budget shortfall this fiscal quarter. They were able to offset $10 million, but must still find a way to account for the remaining $12 million dollar gap in Q2’s budget vs actual.
- Not accepting two furlough days would mean almost 100 PFSP staff being laid off before the end of the school year. Those would be cuts coming this spring, in addition to the cuts projected for 2026-27.
- The District cannot implement a furlough or mid-year staffing changes without negotiating with us.
- Nothing has been decided yet.
What we don’t know:
- How exactly PPS offset $10 million dollars from the initial $22 million shortfall. What positions/services were cut?
- If the shortfall is a one-time incident or if we can expect it to continue into Q3 and Q4. If there are additional shortfalls, how will they be addressed?
- Answers to the questions we asked the District earlier this week are not yet available to us.
The state of our schools is a state of emergency!
School Board Director Eddie Wang said last month that all three years he has served on the school board they have been forced to make cuts. And that’s true – there’s been almost $100 million dollars in cuts over the last three years.
Oregon has ways to determine the level of school funding required to meet our education goals. This is the QEM - the Quality Education Model. But year after year, when we lobby in Salem to fund our schools, we are fighting to preserve the Current Service Level (CSL). The Current Service Level does not provide the funding our schools need to ensure foundational skills development, educator recruitment and retention, create a supportive student learning environment, or ensure that students are on track to graduate.
This funding crisis can be felt across the state, from K-12 to higher learning institutions. Faculty and classified staff at Portland Community College, our fellow members of AFT-OR, voted to authorize a strike in the coming days as negotiations stall to address staffing cuts, salary stagnation, and irresponsible upper management. Sound familiar?
The inadequate Current Service Level of funding is what is causing $50 million in cuts for 2026-27 at PPS. And the Current Service Level is what has us looking down the barrel of an additional $12 million in cuts for 2025-26.
We need legislators who are willing to fully fund education by pulling from the Education Stability Fund. The state last used $400 million from the fund in the 2019-21 biennium to balance the budget. In order to access these funds, elected officials must declare a state of emergency and reach a super majority.
Fight for the workers, fight for the students, fight for each other
In solidarity,
your PFSP Executive Board
