The latest incarnation of Portland Public Schools’ districtwide foundation has raised just $200,000 so far this fiscal year, with just four months left until schools let out for summer break.
That relatively meager total is orders of magnitude less than the $2 to $4 million dollars that the previous system, which allowed individual schools to run their own foundations, regularly brought in each year.
Under the former system, schools could use some of the money raised by families at auctions and jog-a-thons to cover salary and benefit costs for teachers and other education professionals. That was enough for a modest staffing boost in a district that this year has floated plans to cut an estimated 300 employees in order to plug a $50 million budget deficit.
But school board members in 2024 voted 5-2 to dismantle that system, citing equity concerns, in favor of expanding a districtwide foundation, known as the Fund for PPS. The decision left some bruised feelings in its wake, particularly in more affluent school communities.
Under the old system, parents could contribute directly to their schools to improve them. The district would take a cut, but the bulk of the money would go to the school. This meant that parents could do something to improve their own kids’ education. The school board took this ability away, saying that parents couldn’t contribute to their own kids’ schools anymore.
So donations dwindled. Equity in education in action.