Portland Public Schools is turning four days that were originally intended for instruction, grading or paid time off into furlough days, effectively ending the school year early and condensing the calendar in an effort to patch a budget hole first made public last month.
The furlough deal, announced Sunday in a message to the PPS community, followed negotiations with the district’s educator union, Portland Association of Teachers.
The Portland Public Schools district office in Portland, Ore., Oct. 20, 2023.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Oregon’s largest school district has been grappling with an unexpected and growing budget deficit for the current school year.
When the district originally disclosed its surprising gap, it was a $22 million mid-year shortfall, with $12 million in savings already identified, leaving a $10 million hole to fill. A few weeks later, the district had revised the estimated gap upwards to $14 million.
It’s generally rare for a district to have a significant deficit in the middle of a school year. Portland isn’t alone this year, as the Reynolds School District also had to find cost savings after this school year had started.
District leaders tend to have few money-saving options in the middle of a school year — furlough days being one.
Portland Public Schools’ new agreement ends the school year on Friday, June 5, canceling school on June 9 and eliminating a grading day on June 10.
According to the Memorandum of Understanding released with the district’s announcement, the grading day will move earlier, to Monday, June 8.
The district is also canceling school on Friday, May 1.
The fourth furlough day is Memorial Day, Monday, May 25. It will become an unpaid day off.
This story may be updated.
