Portland School Budget Update (04/03/2024)
Quick school budget update: on Monday the Board Finance Committee made some amendments to the Superintendent’s original budget proposal.
The full Board had its first reading last night and will vote next Tuesday to amend/not amend the present document - and then presumably send the final product to the Council.
The amendments largely derived from additional money “found” since the initial proposal.
The sources are:
Increased assumptions in Medicaid reimbursements;
Reduced expectations in insurance; and
Reduced expectations in Paid Family Medical Leave premiums.
The combo of these three factors freed up just over $1m, and then the Committee added to that about $300K more from Board reserves. That money was then committed to restoration of several positions, including 5 ed techs, 2 ELO coordinators, and the Technology Integrationist.
There are others - but these to me are the highlights in terms of responding to the highest frequency public input after the initial proposal. The overall impact is to increase the overall budget, but no impact on the related tax rate (holding at 6.85% for schools…or about ½ of that figure to the overall increase).
Note: we are getting a high volume of email at this time - and I want to ensure everyone knows that, at least speaking for myself, I read every single one…even though responding to every message is not possible.
Please do ask any relevant questions here, and I am happy to try to answer.
Sincerely,
Ben Grant
Candidate for Portland City Council At-Large
