Scrutinizing the 2024-2025 School Budget
The Portland School Board will have its first opportunity to review the proposed 2024-2025 Portland Public School budget at our Tuesday, March 5th meeting. We’re confident Superintendent Dr Ryan Scallon and his staff have made the hard choices necessary to meet the system’s needs and stay within our means.
One important thought to keep in mind - the financing of public education is about investing in the future of our city, state and country.
Successful schools prepare students to support society, not be a burden. We need thinkers and doers who can address our biggest social and economic issues. Issues like building an inclusive, affordable health care system; providing creative housing solutions for working class families; and developing new companies to meet market needs and employ workers.
In less than ten years, students in grades five through ten will be in a position to influence the direction we take on these issues.
Portland Public Schools and its stakeholders have just gone through an extensive Strategic Plan process over the past few months. The 2024-2029 Strategic Plan aims to improve student outcomes, support teachers and provide a supportive organization.
I can tell you the Strategic Plan is practical. It looks to the future by identifying what students graduating from PPS need to know and do. It also addresses the academic needs of the most vulnerable of students, the youngest and those with special needs.
The School Board will get to ask if the Proposed Budget supports the Strategic Plan at our March 5th meeting.
There are many questions we’ll need to ask of the proposed budget. The first and foremost question is does the budget increase resources to students and increase our ability to improve student outcomes? We want to improve students' ability to read and write. We want students who can analyze and solve mathematics at the appropriate level. We want to increase their knowledge of the world through social studies, science, art and the humanities. In short, we want to improve Student Outcomes.
The next question is does the proposed budget account for the educators? These are the people with the knowledge, skills, enthusiasm, commitment and patience to help each and every student succeed. We want to increase the amount of quality time teachers spend with students and the time to prepare for lessons. We want teachers to increase their knowledge and skills and have the time to rejuvenate to better appreciate themselves and their students.
A resounding “yes” to these questions makes this budget worthy of a positive yes vote if it is done in a fiscally responsible manner.
The financing of public education is an investment in our future. Returns on the investment are much like investing in stocks and bonds.
Questioning the budget and reviewing past outcomes is comparable to reviewing the prospectus of a company. Over the last century Portland Public Schools have had some excellent years and educated amazing citizens with financing from Portland taxpayers who reaped the benefits.
This proposed budget is an opportunity for all of us: the School Board, the City Council, and the taxpayers to anticipate the future needs of the community. And, to determine if our School System is planning appropriately for our future.
