Special educators ask district for transparency amid looming budget cuts
By Amal Elhelw
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PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — $30 million in budget cuts are coming to Portland Public Schools for the 2024-25 school year and some special education staff members are concerned their department may be hit hard with potential reassignments and layoffs on the horizon.
Lisa Doane is a speech language pathologist and Emilee Refvem is a school psychologist, both working at PPS. They’re asking the district to have a collaborative approach when making budget decisions that directly impact students, something they feel they haven’t been getting.
“For people in the schools, we all have kids’ best interests at heart, we want to see them succeed, and when we’re being presented with information that doesn’t seem like it’s working towards that, and the reasons why aren’t being communicated to us, that’s just really concerning, and really frustrating,” Doane said.
The announcement for the $30 million dollar budget cut for the upcoming year came from PPS last month. District officials said they’re still working to finalize the budget but said some school staff have been notified if they’re being “unassigned, meaning either being reassigned for next year or laid off. Refvem and Doane said many of those notices seem to be coming to special education staff.
“Our most vulnerable kids appear, I don’t know what the intention is, but appear to be targeted first, which is really concerning and problematic, because within special education, we have a huge intersection of communities,” Refvem said. “We can get jobs. That’s not the concern. We want to make sure that our kids with significant medical needs can access physical education in a way that is safe.”
Based off how many staff members have been told they’re “unassigned” and what has been drafted in a preliminary plan for special education, Refvem and Doane said they’re concerned about what these potential cuts could mean for special education students.
“To walk in and be like, ‘Well, there’s even less that I can do for you next year’ feels really awful. Because even now, I feel like I can’t do enough,” Refvem said.
The two educators are also concerned PPS families may not be aware of the potential cuts on the horizon that could impact their children.
“I don’t think a lot of families know that these cuts are coming and I just want it to be clear to them what the district is proposing,” Doane said.
For that reason, they’re asking the district to be transparent about the budget before it’s finalized and when changes can still be made.
“Yeah, the budget’s not done. But what is the vision? What is the overarching vision that will encompass what that budget can provide? And regardless of what the budget ends up being, how are our students going to be served safely?” Refvem said.
A PPS spokesperson said it’s too early to say what cuts are being made and how it could impact students. The district said they are expecting a finalized budget to come at the end of April.
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