2025-05-19 Board of Education Special Meeting

001All right, let's start our meeting. Thanks for being patient as we had a couple board members with some unexpected delays. All right, this special meeting of the board of education for May 19th, 2025 is called to order. All items being considered this evening are posted on the PPS website under the board and meetings tab. This chair is being streamed live this meeting is being streamed live on PPS TV services website and on channel 20 and will be replayed uh throughout the next two weeks. Please check the district website for replay times. Right, good evening and welcome. Thank you all for taking your time out of day and caring about public education. Um before we get started, some housekeeping reminders. We ask that Oh, no. Yeah, thank you. Um, well, hopefully everyone's okay. Um, as I

002was going to say, make sure please keep the aisles clear uh uh for safety reasons and if you have displays the signs or banners, please keep them at chin level below so the people behind you can have a wonderful experience as well. Um, please treat each other with respect everybody and thank you again for being here. All right, first up, uh, we have a pretty full agenda this evening. Um, before we approve the budget for the 20 2526 school year, we'll get an update from Superintendent Armstrong, have a first reading of proposed changes to the student representative and district student council policy, and also get an update on our middle school redesign. I am purposely reading this very slowly. All right. Voting on anything right now. Yeah. I'm just reading the introduction very slowly. Sorry,

003my mic is still on. Um, superintendent, whenever you're ready, could you go ahead and give us your update? Yeah, I just wanted to provide a quick update. There's no slides for this. Just I know that there has been um lots of questions around our progress with the Center for Black Student Excellence. And so I just wanted to bring um up a a quick update, just a couple of points. And so what I wanted to make sure that you all knew is that for the um Center for Black Student Excellence, um we have an appraisal that is due back at the end of this week, so Friday, May 23rd. And then once we receive that appraisal, we'll be able to continue negotiations and determine what the next steps are for the um for the board. And

004then also the director position for the center for black student excellence will be posted tomorrow. And so just really wanting to emphasize our commitment to making progress and that we are excited to move the work alone. And we think that some of these actions coming out of this week and on to the next week will get us closer to our goal um and your goals as well. [Music] [Applause] Can I ask a question? Um, sure. Will we also have um at the same time as you're moving ahead with any sort of negotiation receive an operating plan and but and a budget? Yes, there will be um we'll have a full packet for the board prepared once we collect all of the the information. Um, and once a building is um an appraisal and a purchase

005agreement is determined, we will have information for the board to consider. Great. Okay. Thank you. Thanks. Is that it? Great. Thank you, Dr. Armstrong, for the update. Uh, next up we have the board will now vote on the consent agenda. Uh board members, if there's any items you would like to pull for a separate vote, please indicate that. Uh Miss Powell, are there any changes to the consent agenda? We did have one contract removed for Louiswis and Clark. Great. And that will be put on the June 10th meeting. All right. Do I have a motion and a second to adopt the consent agenda? So moved. Second. Director Brim Edwards moves director to pass seconds. The adoption of the consent agenda. Do we have any public comment or typically any discussion? All right, but I think

006that's for time. I should learn how to turn off my mic. Um, all right. The board will now vote on resolution 711 through 7. We have someone signed up for public comment. Okay. On the consent agenda. Oh, thank you. We have Aaron Frasier. All right. Thank you. Did you probably know the guidelines? Three minutes. Yellow light means 30 seconds. Thank you. Appreciate it. And thank you. It's nice to see you all. Good evening. My name is Aaron Frasier and I'm the executive director of the Center for Black Excellence. I'm here tonight to thank the superintendent for her comments during her report at the start of the May 6th board meeting and tonight regarding the district's process for identifying a site for the Center for Black Student Excellence and to preemptively thank this board for approval

007of a budget that includes a director for the CBSC. I am also here tonight to urge this body to keep up its progress and keep its promise to this community by publicly identifying a site for the CBSC this June. You all know better than most that every year this district bemons the same stubborn student data. It's the kind of data that if you only glanced at it and if you were exposed to it over and over again, might lead a person who didn't know any better to think the problem was our children instead of our system. But for those of us who do know better, like those out in this crowd tonight, we know it's not us. even when it goes unttaught, unrecognized, and unurtured in K12 classrooms. We know that black brilliance and curiosity

008and innovation are real. And that black children, like all children, contain an endless capacity to thrive inside and outside of school. And that's not a baseless belief. That black children can learn and grow and shine has been proven before throughout time in history, around the world, and around this country. In fact, when this district was led by the very man for whom this building is named, Dr. Matthew Profett, this belief was proven true right here. But you all cannot have his name and ignore Dr. Profit's legacy. And you cannot have a CBSC director with no CBSC. These are the worst versions of performative politics, of politics that start and end at declarations. And black folks have never needed or asked for that. What we have needed and asked for is that this district teach our

009children math and reading in schools that don't simultaneously break their spirits and erode their understanding of how to love themselves. What we have needed and asked for is that after you sit up on that dis and say we need more from parents and more from the community to really see a change for our students that you actually take the help that we are offering you to collaborate and improve those outcomes. What we have needed and asked for is that this district be accountable to us and to every other taxpayer in this city by doing what it says it will with money it has collected instead of just making us promises when it is politically expedient and breaking them when keeping those promises is not. We don't expect you to do this alone. We are here.

010You can see us and you say that you hear us. Now we need you to listen to us too. Please publicly identify a site for the CBSC before June's end. We all know that a physical site for the CBSC alone isn't enough. But we also know it's a necessary first step on a journey that will transform the educational experiences of students in this district and thereby transform this city and set an example for a country that desperately needs one for generations to come. Together, we really can turn Portland into one of the best places in the country to raise black children. Thank you. Thank [Applause] you. Thank you. Is that that's everyone on the list? All right. All right. Thank you. The board will now vote on resolutions 711 through 7115 and 7117. All in

011favor, please indicate by saying yes. Yes. Yes. All opposed. Abstensions. All right. The consent agenda has been approved by a vote of five to zero. All right. Next up, we have the first reading of a proposed revision to the student representative and district student council policy 1.20.012-P that were that was referred out of the policy committee meeting. Um, director Bener, do you want to introduce us? Yes. Um, so on behalf of JJ and the uh district student council, um, I'm bringing this forward. Um, this came out of committee with a recommendation for the first reading. Essentially it um the changes do two things. one, they um changed the threshold for the student receiving credit and um that was something that we had a discussion with um our academic the academic staff to make sure that

012they were okay okay okay okay with um and so that's the first change and the second change is just changing um the um the representation that is coming from each school and again this came as a recommendation from the district student council um So, two relatively um small changes and um we're bringing it tonight hopefully to get this done before um JJ wraps up his tenure. Thank you, Director Brim Edwards. Um yes. So, uh the policy with proposed revisions will be posted on the board website and the public comment period is a minimum of 21 days. Uh contact contact information for public comment will be posted with the policy. The board expects to hold a second reading of these revised policies which is to be voted on or which is a vote to approve them

013on June 10th. All right. Next up, we have an update on our middle school redesign. I hand this over to Dr. Armstrong. Great. Thank you, Chair Wong. So, I appreciate the anticipation that uh many of you have had for an update on middle grades redesign in the plan 23 through 26. As you know, this has been a district-wide effort to reimagine the experience of our middle grade students. And I just want to note that this plan is grounded in five key themes, including racial equity, professional excellence and support, and integrated adolescent supports. It also reflects our shared vision that middle school should not just prepare students for high school, but it should also empower them to become confident, capable, and future ready. Starting off tonight's presentation is Christina Howard, chief academic officer. Good evening, board

014directors. Um, we have really been looking forward to this presentation and bringing you an update on Middlegrade's uh, redesign, a topic that's near and dear to all of our hearts. Um, I would like to introduce you to Joanna Tobin. She is our senior director of MiddleGrade's core academics and redesign and the instructional resource um, team. And she's going to introduce everyone else that's here. Thank you. Thank you. And good evening and thank you. Um, it's an honor to get to share with you tonight a big body of work and I want to start off by centering our principles and this plan was really designed to support our principles. We know we need to do even more around that and uh first we came together a few years ago to really look at what are our

015kids needing in Portland right now specifically our sixth through 8th grade learners. And I want to name and also share that this initially came from from the board and your ask around that. And so we put a team together representing a wide range of positions and community and uh schools across uh the the district including our K8 schools. Want to name our K8 schools that also have 68 students and our comprehensive middle schools. And we developed a plan that initially was really grounded in the assoc association for middle level education and their work their position paper around this. we believe um as a a successful uh middle school uh their fifth edition researchbased also has 18 characteristics and we really came together to look at what do our students in PPS need now um to

016have uh similar opportunities in all of our schools and so that was the initial um framing of our work. Um this plan is really supported as um Superintendent Armstrong named really in uh five key areas. And these key areas are supported and implemented through the framing of district-wide simultaneous and phased in approaches to provide comprehensive support. Also naming that each school started off in a different place. And so it is very important that each leader is given that flexibility to lead and guide their school through a roadmap supported um by our team that you'll hear a little bit more about here in a moment. And so really having um the goal of similar um experiences, similar opportunities and also um giving leaders that flexibility to name their approach. And so more specifically on our next

017slide, you'll see the simultaneous year-to-year and district-wide initiatives. I want to note one example that you see there, access to advisory programs. We have that in yellow. I also want to name it could be green as well. This is an example of an initiative that was really um done in partnership with multiple departments. Specifically, our T- cell, our transformative social emotional um department. I'm thinking back to a moment when Dr. Viv was leading her team at Bumont through this and brought everyone in in the summer to learn and look at the curriculum and really talk through how do we support our students in this and so it's really that collaboration with the leader with the whole team centering our students and finding the right path forward and so I want to name that was done

018in partnership um and so you'll see the simultaneous initiatives in um really noted there on that lefth hand column representative um the support what you see there in the colors is how they're supported by the middlegrades redesign um prioritized um in the year uh 2526 well you you'll see how we'll share more about what's to come um and then also that green notation is really as I mentioned just a moment ago to note the collaboration with multiple departments as you can see this is a small crew and so it definitely has been an effort to make sure that we're working collaboratively throughout um the central office site level and schools and providing even more opportunities for school level leaders to collaborate as we move through and get this all through the finish line here in

019the next while. And so with that, um, I'm excited to pass to our director of middlegrades redesign, um, Richard Smith. Hi, good evening. It's nice to be here with you tonight to talk a little about middlegrades redesign. I'd be remiss if I didn't thank all the people who came before me in this position. Uh, Miss Misha Plotsky and Miss Anjene Bryant who helped develop this plan along with principles and steering committees and a lot of people that came together to make this. So, where we've been in the last two years, uh, last year we really focused in on developing our eighth grade success teams. This is a team that meets weekly at our 28 sites that have middle-grade students and they talk about student data and how to best support them. We've also leaned heavily

020into curriculum and instructional practices and how we support schools in that implementation and how we work together with other departments to do that work. Advisory, as Joanna talked about, was a big body of work that last year all of our schools began to have access to and that has continued in this this school year where all 28 of our schools serving middle-rade students have advisory programs that they access at least uh 75 minutes a week. We continue to provide professional learning and we'll talk more about that a little bit later in some of our slide decks. So for this year, while we continue those other practices, we also leaned into scheduling quite a bit in supporting our middle school principles in developing a schedule that would be five of seven. So five periods where the

021teachers are teaching out of seven so they could do that collaborative teaming as well as uh having expanded access to electives. We also have leaned heavily into our fifth to sixth grade transitions and we have a very robust program in 13 of our 15 comprehensive middle schools for next year where we'll have student mentors that'll work with the incoming sixth graders. We've uh dabbled in the project-based learning where we've had some teachers engage in that work and at and later on we'll dive deeper into what our middle grades field trips and capstones have looked like as well as our standardsbased grading equitable grading practices. So, um, I'm gonna turn it over to Courtney Garside, who's our program manager for eighth grade success teams as well as redesign, who will talk a little bit more about

022our field trips and capstones. Thank you and good evening. Um, so in order to create a field trip and capstone experience for every eighth grader, um, which in some cases means 200 plus students going to a site. uh it was important for us to develop some district level partnerships so that we could assist schools in the logistics around getting kids out to a field trip. And so as we've created these partnerships, we've really framed it in terms of what is the field experience that the eighth graders are getting? What is the classroom learning that happens before and after that's tied to core content areas? And then what is this portfolio product that can be tied to their eighth grade capstone? And so the two examples we have up here are our biggest partnerships. Most of

023our eighth graders are going on at least one of these, if not both. And that includes college and career experiences. Um, many of our students are traveling to the University of Oregon or Oregon State University. Those have been our biggest university partners. And we've also established a partnership with the Bonavville Dam um that is tied to our eighth grade tribal history shared history curriculum. um where students learn about what how dependent we are on dams, what the trade-offs are um thinking about dam removal related to the tribal history, shared history lessons. And so these are a big lift. Like I said, a lot of our schools have a large number of eighth graders. Uh one example is Kellogg. Last week they split their eighth graders. Half of them went to the University of Oregon, half

024went to the Bonavville Dam, and then they flipped. So, in one week, we got all the kids out there and they had these two really great experiences. Um, yes. And so, in addition to those two big ones, we do have additional sites. So, we're partnering with about 13 sites at this point, and you can see them on the list. Uh we have the Portland Workforce Alliance, Inline Construction, uh we spoke about Bonavville, uh the Hamilton cast that was here for the play, partnered with them this year, as well as the Hoy Arboritum, JMO, OHS, the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, uh the two universities, OSU and UFO, the Oregon Zoo, and Portland State University. And so for all of these trips again, there's the field experience, there's the classroom learning before and

025after, and then there's these capstone products. And it was important for us with all of these experiences that kids are having to have a place for those to live. And so that's where we developed the digital portfolios. And so in addition to the field trip pieces, other artifacts from students sixth through eighth grade experience, so big projects, big writing samples are all going into these portfolios that they start in sixth grade and they will add to from sixth through 8th grade, which will all culminate in a presentation of their eighth grade capstone that really embodies their middle school experience. Thank you. And um I'm going to jump in and I just want to uh express appreciation for all of these partners that we've had that we've been able to develop with. Getting 3,400 eighth graders

026on a field trip and an experience requires a substantial amount of partners, especially knowing that the budget cycle that we're in. Being able to have these opportunities outside of transportation costs and some planning time for teachers has been huge uh to be able to get these students this experience and we plan to continue that into the coming year. Our last big shift around middle grades redesign is really shifting all of our 68 schools including our K8s to move to a standardsbased grading model next year. And we've done quite a bit of work around this. As a matter of fact, PPS used to be one of the leaders about 15 years ago in this process of converting and we just haven't quite gotten to the finish line on it. We're happy to say that we're finally

027going to get there next year and we've engaged with our educators and our parents this year on this. We've provided professional learning um both to staff and to leaders on what this looks like. We've we've taken every single course that's in the middle school catalog and aligned it to standards. Yes, that includes office aid even. Everything is aligned to standards moving forward. And so what you'll see in report cards is instead of an A through F, you'll see grades like highly proficient, proficient, and other items. And the report card will no longer just be one letter grade. It'll actually look at multiple areas within the subject area to report out to parents. And so this is a shift. Many schools have engaged in part of this process and we'll be going full in next year

028on that. And so looking ahead, the key areas that we are going to continue to prioritize for next year are going to be the standardsbased grading shift, the transitions to middle school, and additionally pushing that to 8th to 9th field trips capstones and finally those eighth grade success teams. Those are the areas you'll see us lean most heavily in. And with that, that's our presentation. Great. Thank you. Open up to questions. Uh, Director Sullivan. Yeah. You said eighth grade success team. What does that look like? So, the team meets uh weekly to talk through students who might be on This is the teachers. The teachers. Yes. Yes. Okay. The team meets together in one of their um uh PLC or teaming blocks to talk through student protocols on where students are maybe who are in

029danger of failing or already failing a course as well of as well as attendance. It's meant to really be those supports within the class and not those outofclass supports that we have other resources for. Dr. Uh yes, thank you. I had a question about and maybe it's obvious this so we still have some of the schools in our district that are K8s. Yeah. So, I'm curious how are those kids pulled out? Are they still experiencing capstone portfolios, standardsbased grace grading? Yes. Yeah. Just how how does that work in a K8 as opposed to a comprehensive middle school? Just like K8s are uniquely different than comprehensive uh middle schools in many ways. Um the approaches might look a little bit different. Um but the 18 initiatives that we've talked about are absolutely also intended and are

030being implemented and supported in the K8s as well. So really centering all middle-grade students in the district 6th through 8th. Thank you. And just one last comment um I didn't notice in the partners Oregon Trade Women's Network and I'm a really big fan of that organization because they do have a program specifically for middle middle school girls to introduce them to the trades. So, thank you. Thank you. We will reach out to them. Yeah, you can tell them I sent you, too. Thank you. It's great. Okay, I'll call you after me. Um, thank you for this presentation. Uh, really happy to see this update, especially some of the work that we saw last year and seeing the progress. So, thank you for that. Seeing good progress. Uh, just couple really quick questions. So um it

031looks like the the move to 5 to 7 is the goal is to have by next year, right? All or the year after. We're there now. We're there now. Okay. And this includes K through eight as well. Correct. Okay. That was my question. Yeah. So just to clarify for anyone who um is new to that term of five of seven. And for the audience that indicates that teachers teach five periods of seven and so that does allow um for that time for collaboration um as uh director um middlegrades design read uh director Richard Smith shared earlier. Yes. No. Director Slit. Thanks. So just slightly anecdotally I have a fourth grader and she has started to panic about middle school already. So, I know that that's real and it's we've had a lot of discussions um

032about that transition. So, it's on my mind a lot. Um so, I'll be like a close watcher for sure um of this work. Um you know, elementary school is like a cozy little security blanket for her. So, um I do have a couple questions. Uh some of them are just really um basic. Um you talked about a couple of the middle schools that didn't yet have the transition. I can't remember exactly what you called it. two that are missing. I'm just curious which two they are and if you could remind me what it is that they are missing. So they did not opt into the the web program is what it's called where everyone belongs. They have an alternative program that they do in house at those schools and so that was at the school's

033design and school's choice that they didn't do that they'll still do the jump start and they'll have their own in-house thing and I believe that is two schools it's uh George and Robert Gray. So, they had existing procedures and ways of doing their transition work, so they opted out of the training, but they still have all of those things in place. Can we um make sure that after this year with the other schools, we kind of check to make sure that what they're doing kind of matches up and is indeed equivalent. I think that would be maybe a good idea. Um and then I'm curious, you mentioned the field trips are paid for except for maybe transportation and planning. So, is that something that's in the district budget or not? Yes. So, within our middlegrades

034department, we fund all the transportation and planning aspects. That's great. And then for transportation, that's paid for by you guys, you're saying, or Okay. Okay. Okay. And then the field trips themselves are paid for by the schools. No, so the school does not incur any expenses for these field trips. We incur all the expenses for the planning and the trips. And there are some partners where we might have like an entry fee or something for like a museum. We also budget around that. Okay, great. Thanks. That's great. As the longtime PTA treasurer, what we pay for our field trips, I know they're expensive. Um, and then I'm curious about um the K8 question, too. And not just are they still involved, but also um you know, we're definitely hearing either whispers or downright shouts from

035time to time from our K8s wishing that they were not K8s. um uh kids in those schools wishing they were at a comprehensive middle school. And I know there's probably the other side of that coin, too. And I'm just curious if there's still conversation on, you know, transitioning those remaining six K8s on in this process or if that's outside this process or if there's anything we should know about that dynamic. That would be outside this process. We more support programming and not um enrollment or boundaries. Okay. You know, I think I I appreciate the question. And I just wanted to say that as a as a new team, a board team, superintendent team, um we have not yet engaged in that conversation. And if that's a conversation that the board is interested in having, we

036will make sure that we get that on the agenda and some I and some um things to to talk about. But at this point, um that hasn't been a part of the work plan. I think it might be interesting just in evaluating how things are going to see, you know, the differences between the K8s that we have and the comprehensive middle schools so that we can have some data that might be able to help guide or point out like shine a light if we do need to have that conversation based on the work you all are doing. Um anyway, but maybe not a conversation to have. I don't know. Yeah. One thing I would like actually to add also is that and this is not for tonight. It's for later, but something to also throw

037out to the board as well in terms of future discussion about uh equitable experiences throughout all our middle schools. Um as you know, you know, we're talking about enrollment discussions and things like that and also looking at K through8s because I know that's been an issue in terms of uh access to certain programming in K through8. I think I just want to flag that as something that I particularly am interested in discussing and and having updates on um and throwing that out there as a potential discussion point. So, thank you. And bottom line, just thank you so much for the work. We've all been middle schoolers. We know how important what you're doing is. Thank you. You am interested in the um standardbased grading and I'm I asked for a sample. Do you have any

038one of those to show up? Because it looked like for each class, like for English, you'd have five different things and then you'd have a grade for each one of those. So, speaking, listening, writing, etc. Okay. And you do that for every course. Yes. Every course has broken down into larger bodies that give a score for each of those. Okay. So, it feels like that would let parents know more where they were. And if they really weren't doing well, it would say so. Yes, the intent is that grades are communication and so it's to communicate more broadly how the students doing besides just one overall. Okay. Thanks. Sorry, quick question to follow up on that. Is that done through synergy and we have adapted synergy to be able to do the standardsbased grading seamlessly? Yes,

039it's a it's been a long process. Uh but yes, it does do it. We've seen it live. We've seen it in action. So, yes, it does work for that. Great. Thank you. It looks to me pretty sim I also have a follow up on that. Um, it looks pretty similar to elementary school to me. So, is but maybe a different system. Is that why it's been challenging or just different standards? The K5 system, they enter it separately onto your report card whereas the what we've set up for the middle school will calculate automatically through Synergy. Oh, wow. Okay. That's fascinating. Well, it took eight years, but I'm glad we're here. Uh I'm looking around the room and the I'm just saying Margaret, Liz, Rosanne, there's not very many people who were here in 2017 when

040the new board came in and decided that they looked at the inequities between the students who were in the underenrolled K8s um primarily well I say only on the east side and in North Portland um and primarily in schools in which [Music] um they had less political power is how I'd describe it and um the board actually so the question is like who drives it um the board and with the new superintendent at the time um Guadalupe Guerrero we decided that looking if you looked at the inequities that um we weren't going to let it continue because essentially the types of electives that students had in the underenrolled K um K8s were things like office duty, you know, um teachers aid. They weren't what um they were not at all similar to the big comprehensive

041middle schools. Um and so we embarked on the sort of reopening Kellogg um reopening Tubman and giving it a feeder pattern, Harrison Harrison Park. Um and so there were multiple pieces to it in addition to um more equitable offerings um but also um things like um filtered experiences because again another place where there is inequity. So really thank you for the work to ensure that kids across the board um get an opportunity to get outside and experience the world. Um it's great to see that uh there also um was just like completely different practices and while this wasn't a K8 versus a middlegrades again the report cards the standard based so my kids went to a standardbased report cards they went to Hosford when they had the standardbased report cards um and all the kids

042on the west side still had um letter grades um and Actually, I found as a parent it was great um because it gave you a lot more information about um where your student was. It also um attempted to separate effort from um proficiency which is really important. So kids who were trying hard got um recognized that they were trying hard but also um not given false information about where they were in terms of proficiency. Um I I think my only comment about the report cards is um it seemed like the biggest issue with report cards was not the students who like my kids had no idea because they they had standard-based elementary cards. So when they went to middle school it was just when they went to Hosford it was just like the same. Um

043but it was mainly the the parents who really were still attached to the grades. So hopefully we've done a lot of socializing of the what the what the benefits are because especially if your child is struggling. I think they're really helpful, but it wasn't so much the students versus the par the parents who really felt attached to the the letters. Um I think I guess my only I don't really have any questions. This is great. I really appreciate it. Um actually do you have a question? the the 507. There was some conversation when looking at just the number of minutes then that students had if you take the the core classes over the course of the school year whether um they had enough instructional time to cover all the material at the middle grade. So

044I'm wondering um what you're finding. I'll I'll grab a I'll take a a crack at that and then the team if you'd like to add anything please do. In fact, one of the key pieces that we've needed to make room for is our PE minutes. So, we do in fact need to provide threequarters of PE and our previous schedules did not all allow for that. So, five is your core classes plus a PE and a health. And so that's an example of making sure that we have room for that requirement while also maintaining the required minutes for our core and also valuing the elective experience that students need in in the middle grades and that is through K8 as well. A few more challenges presented at K8 um with meeting those minutes and sharing staff

045and those sorts of things. So you can imagine there was a lot of um conversation and support to get there. And um I just want to name and center our uh K8 principles around that. Definitely the scheduling has been um uniquely um you know I don't know if I'll say challenging but I think parts of it definitely have been uniquely different than the middle grades um with the shared K5 staffing. I wanted to ask that kind of got at my question. And I was wondering, you know, so in a K8 that the the entire school's on the same schedule or are they are they from a schedule perspective, are they operating on a 57? Two separate 468 they're on the five of seven and they interplay because they're using and sharing staff. Okay. So ju

046just I guess what I wanted to make sure is because it used to be six and so when you have seven that means each class is a shorter period of time and if we have the same number of days we still have enough time to cover the core curriculum through the school year even this yeah with um with the seven periods even with advisory the classes come out to about 47 minutes on average which gets us past the 225 required per class. Okay, great. [Music] Um the I guess the other question I have is there was I think and what spurred a lot of the changes um was the the examination of the types of electives and not just the types of electives but some some schools only like didn't have a world language in

047middle schools and others had three and I'm curious And there also was like um like different levels of math that were offered and obviously with fewer numbers of students there were fewer options and sometimes fewer rigorous options and fewer interesting as my kids says because when they went to Hosford it was a very low lowenrolled school that there like wasn't very like the electives weren't very interesting um and there were very few and so I'm curious um whether you all look at all those things and especially now with the remaining K8s because they can't have that I mean they still have a relatively smaller number of students in the sixth to eighth grades. Is that something you routinely look at or um yes so in our core program all middle schools including K8s have to

048offer at least one world language. So all of our schools do have that in there. Um yes, economy of scale. There will be some different elective offerings depending on what school you go to and the number of students that are there. And then uh for math, we do have a math pathway to where algebra 1 can be accessible at all schools. Great. Great. Thank you. I say it's um great sort of like as my third to last meeting to see it's on its way. Um so thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. All right. Next up, um we have the 202526 budget. Uh right now the board regular board meeting is recessed. We will now be reconvening as the budget committee. So the purpose of tonight is to approve the superintendent's

049proposed budget for the 202526 school year. Um I just want to put one clarifying thing for our board members and the public who are may have questions. Uh today is the approval of the budget which in other words is kind of like approving the acceptance of or accepting and rece or or voting to receive it basically. Uh June 10th is when we actually vote on the adoption of the the budget and that that's a different vote. So, just so you know, uh, today is for the approval. June 10th is for the adoption. Um, the board began, just a little bit background, the board began receiving initial recommendations all the way back in January. I'm very thankful for our superintendent to uh with her um uh practice early of and often has been very helpful in

050terms of uh seeing and uh the revisions and um the feedback that was used in revising the budget uh since and we had a revision and it was reshared in March u before we received the superintendent's proposal in April. Uh then we had a board budget hearing later that month followed by a work session. Uh at our last meeting the community budget review committee also known as the CBRC provided their report and followed by board questions and board board discussion as well. Uh I also want to thank the staff for putting in all this amazing and hard work on getting this together and also answering our questions as we have been sending them in. Uh Dr. Armstrong. I was wondering if you have any thoughts you would like to share before we get this resolution

051on the table. Yeah, thank you, Chair Wong. I appreciate that. And and thank you for the call out that tonight is about voting to approve the budget. Um whether that's with changes or without changes. And just a reminder to the board that the budget is a ceiling on spending and sets the appropriation levels. And so it's important to acknowledge that. and and knowing that there'll be movement within positions and services throughout the year. Um like I said, it's thinking about this budget and the ceiling. And then I also just wanted to um just call out a couple of things. I know it's been quite the journey since it's feels like I've been talking about budget for the entire 11 months. Um, but just thinking specifically of the last few, you know, initially in January, we

052proposed a budget and we put it out to the community for feedback and review. And we heard strongly not only from uh our staff, our community um and uh those who are in support and even in some respects from you on some areas. And so just I want to remind you of some of the shifts that we made from um January through uh March and April. And so originally we had named a reduction to the high school staffing formula where we were um looking to um to reduce it and we were able to bring that back to keep it um as it is. And so originally we were looking at a $2.8 million savings out of that but um we return that back to baseline. We also um were able to add back from our

053original proposal interventionists uh instructional coach and social emotional supports. We're also able to add back a.5 um assistant principal in our um elementary schools and we originally had that named which was a $1.4 million reduction. and then also some balancing for English language development, knowing that we want to continue to resource in our programs where support is needed the most. And I think it's just also important to note that um we make no reductions in special education. Um even though you know there's a cap in our funding and we carry a significant amount out of general funds, we know that the work that we need to do with our kiddos um with IEPs is still significant and most extracurricular activities um remain and continue. The other thing I wanted to lift up is core enrichment

054has been a hot topic um since the entire year that I've been here and I've heard from uh some of you about that. And so when I say core enrichment, I'm talking about those classes like art and and music and um in some of those areas. So there's the core academics and then there's core enrichment. And so we are committing to um no teachers traveling to more than two buildings. And we're also paying attention to those splits that create undue hardships or that might be awkward. And so we're going to continue to explore that and utilize our set aside funds that were already budgeted for some of those unique opportunities. And uh the other thing that I wanted to lift up is that, you know, we thanks to our voters, we have levy funds that

055this year we're able to cover um or pay for um teaching positions, 1.0. So 744 of that. And so next year um for this 2526 school year, we're projected that those levy funds will cover 718 positions and we are um still continuing to fund unless of course there is a um reduction in uh enrollment where we would apply that. But we did not um intentionally seek out those positions that were levy funded and eliminate them because we no longer had the money. we still wanted to make sure um that that was uh a funded resource which is about4 million um uh dollars. And so I just wanted to to lift off those thing lift up those things to let you know that we've continued to work at it. And then I think the last thing

056that I'll mention is title one. So we will receive our allocation from the state on Wednesday is what we're predicting. And so once we receive that allocation, we know that there isn't a reduction to title funds. There is not going to be. And so we look forward to getting the remainder of those funds, which is about 25% back into um buildings so that uh some of those programs and things that were funded before can continue to be funded. So, we'll get that allocation from um the state department on Wednesday and then we'll begin to notify buildings either later this week or next week so they'll have those funds. So, there's just I just wanted to some reminders and some new information for you to hold on to as you move towards approval of this budget.

057So, so thank you for this um this opportunity to engage [Applause] Can I ask two questions just about the the items you mentioned? This is just about the things that she just raised. Um you said the balancing for English language development. Are you talking about um for English language learners or students in um ELD? Yes, I was talking about great and then the title one if it's 25% back in is that going to be an amendment to the budget? And maybe that's a question for Michelle. Or is that because once once we approve either the fund or the the fund amount can't change by more than 10%. Should we put this on the table first? Pardon? Should we put this on the table first? Okay, that's fine. Yeah. Okay, let's put it on the table

058first. Uh, do I have a motion? It's a technical question. So moved. That's fine. I'll call in you first right after. So moved. Resolution 7116. We have director to pass moves and second director split seconds uh which is resolution 7116 budget committee approval of the 202526 budget and imposition of property taxes. Thank you. Uh go ahead director Brims. Right. Thank you so much um for all of the attention to the budget. It is it's such a critical guide for the efforts for the year. And so I just want to thank you directors and also the CBRC and staff who have worked really hard to answer so many great questions at at a very high level of detail. So just want to share some appreciation for that. Um, for the question about title one, I think

059those addition because title one funds are included in the 200 fund section of our budget, those additional funds are not enough to trigger a a supplemental budget, but you will see a change in our in our presentation. More board discussion. Yeah. General questions. I want to do. Uh, we're going to do public comment first. So, Miss Powell, do we uh who do we have for public comment? We do. We have um Alberto Plata, David Contes, and Melissa McCoy. Thank you all for being here. I just want to go over some general guidelines. As as with all public comment, um you have three minutes. Yellow light goes off means you have 30 seconds to finish up. Um we ask that you, you know, keep your comments respectful. Um, also make sure that you respect Furpa laws,

060which is is there, you know, no identifying potential identifying uh comment that could identify any of our students. Great. Thank you. May whoever wants to start may go. All right. Thank you. Good evening. Um, so I'm not going to speak today. I actually brought one of my students um who's going to give this testimony today on my behalf. Dear Is that okay? Dear superintendent and members of the board of education, my name is Oske Cruz and I am a senior at Benson Polytechnic High School. I participate in Escalera, which is one of the programs that Latino Network offers in PPS. I write to thank you that thank you and show my appreciation for allowing Latino Network programs to be offered at our schools. Programs such as connection, Early Escalera, Cole de Padres, and the program

061I currently participate in, Escalera. I enjoy being part of the Escala program because it provides me with supportive space where I feel truly seen, heard, and valued. As a first generation first generation Hispanic student, navigating navigating the college environment has come with many challenges. I've often found it overwhelming and difficult to know which steps to take. There have been moments where I felt lost or unsure, but being part of Escada has helped me feel less alone in this journey. The program has given me a sense of community and belonging that I didn't know I needed. It has become a safe place where I can express myself without fear of judgment and where my experiences are understood and respected. Through Escalera, I've connected with others who share similar cultural backgrounds and similar hopes, values, and struggles.

062This is a place where I have we where we have someone who looks like us and has had experiences that we can connect to and understand without feeling degraded. PPS should support the community. support the community because you are not only helping the community but you are upholding yourself to a higher standard to improve and invest in our education. These kinds of programs serve as a vital bridge between students, families, and the education system. Especially for those of us whose parents didn't have access to the same education opportunities for first generation students, this connection is essential and it helps to close gaps in understanding, communication, and access to off and access that often leaves families feeling disconnected or overwhelmed. By investing in these programs, PPS is doing more than supporting individual student student success. You're

063investing in a more equitable and inclusive future. You're choosing to support a system where every student, regardless of their background, has a fair chance to pursue higher education, develop professional skills, and ultimately create a meaningful path forward. supporting Escada and similar initiatives to commitment to acceptance, representation in a school system where their mission states to educate all children to their highest potential, empowering them to be a productive, respectful, self-reliant, and responsible citizens who value diversity. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, chair, board members, and superintendent. My name is David Contz Machado and I'm here to speak on behalf of Latino Network and our community as we face another uh year of difficult budget decisions. We understand that PPS is being asked to reduce uh 15% from RSJ in its various programs, a painful

064reality and a challenging uh financial climate. Uh but how we choose to make those cuts is as important as the cuts themselves. This cannot be a top- down decision that blind blindly reduces services without considering need, scope, and quality. and the consistency of program longevity, trust and relationships matter, especially in culturally based programs. Our students thrive not just because of the existence of services, but because the people delivering those services know them, look like them, and can understand them. If this becomes an acrosstheboard cut, the impact will not be felt equally. Some students, like our Latina Latina youth, will bear the weight of that loss more than others. Last year, the board made a commendable choice uh to restore uh funding to the RSJ programs, and I hope and wish you do the same this

065year. But I need to mention that last year's uh restoration was not used to maintain services for Latino students. The message that sent, unintentional or not, was that our students were not a priority. If even some of those funds were uh redirected that were redirected went to supports uh the Latina community uh we may not be here today. But we are here because we need to sound the alarm that this pattern cannot continue. We urge you do not take a blinded approach. These decisions must reflect the lived reality of our students. Our programs represent not just academic support but trust, identity, and belonging. If you remove those, you're not just removing services, you're removing lifelines. We cannot separate these decisions from the larger political climate. Across the country, Latina communities are facing increased hostility, from

066rising uh rising anti-immigrant rhetoric to policies that erase our history and silence our voice. In this context, pulling back support for culturally specific programs in Portland is not a neutral act. It's a broader pattern of erasure and marginalization. and it sends another message to our students that they can't afford, that being you don't belong. We believe there is still a path forward, one rooted in equity, thoughtful uh decision-making. We continue to uh to advocate in Salem to increase funding for our schools, our communities, our districts. We believe that that we are ready uh to collaborate in building a path forward um together. one that prioritizes student needs, honors uh the deep connections that make our programs uh successful. Our students are watching, so let's show them what racial equity and social justice in action really

067look like. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time today to share. Uh, next up we have the president of the Portland Association of Teachers, Angela Bonia. Hello, good evening. Um, hi. Busy season. Um, so hi, uh, Angela Bona, president, Portland Association of Teachers. Um, I was totally prepared to come here and ask um kindly and uh directly and forcefully that those Title One funds be reinstated to our schools. I know that 25% of those funds were held back in preparation for a possible withdrawal of funds by the federal government. So, I'm very happy to hear that there is a commitment to bring those funds back to our buildings and hoping that that that those funds can be directed to support staffing in order to reduce the likelihood of of uh layoffs for this year.

068Um, I'm also very happy to hear uh the core enrichment um lift being lifted up by our superintendent. Um, you know, it is really awesome to hear an attempt to stabilize and hear a superintendent speak about core enrichment, not just because it's visually and sonically appealing, but actually thinking about the educators who make that happen every day. Um, however, I know that any core enrichment educators who are watching would um be upset if I did not mention how difficult it is to teach across two sites or more. Um, and I appreciate the attempt to keep it down to two sites, but when we speak to the inequalities um, happening across different schools like our middle schools, um, we feel that every day when our core enrichment educators have to travel to multiple sites across the

069whole system. I've heard about folks not having the same supplies across schools, so having to have diff additional planning to uh, be able to support different schools. Um, I also heard about scheduling making them inaccessible after school for events at each site. So, if you're only there in the morning, it's really difficult to have after school events for those families. Um, also seeing that folks are stressed getting to know hundreds and hundreds of kids across multiple sites and multiple grades and giving them meaningful instruction. And I would also be remiss to not mention that our school counselors are experiencing the same type of tension. um their work is based on building trust and relationships. And we have counselors, for example, that are working two days at one site, two days at a second site, one

070day at a third site. And you can't really provide care and identify supports or even let kids know how to find you if you're only there 6 to 12 hours a week. I think this is especially painful for our black educators, our uh counselors, our indigenous counselors, and our counselors of color um who sometimes are the only adults of color that kids see in buildings um and at their sites and feel like they can connect to. Um so I would really appreciate making sure that all funds, additional funds that can be allocated to our schools to stabilize staffing and avoid layoffs are made. Um, and I will continue to do the work of uh shouting at the rooftops in Salem to make sure that our legislators know that they that there is a check they

071need to cash for us um so that we can provide the support and services and education that our kids deserve. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, President Boner. Right. Uh is there any board discussion? I don't I don't have anything like earthshattering to say, but I I do want to just say a few things um as we approve this budget, which really means accept it. Um taking it from the committee to the whole board. Um, I guess one thing is I think anybody who's been paying attention to me since I got here knows that I have a background in fighting for school funding. And it is really hard to vote yes on something that we all know is inadequate for our kids. And we all know that tough decisions are being made that none of us

072feel comfortable with, right? And even though we're all doing our best, and I've been really grateful for Director Morrison who stepped in and done just a wonderful job of getting where we are now. Superintendent Armstrong, it's not fair being handed this type of situation as a new superintendent and I really appreciate all the work that you've done too to make this happen and everyone else who's been pivotal pivotal in putting this together. So when I say it's hard to vote yes on, it's not about the work that's been done or the process, but just the reality that our state legislature for, you know, since the early 1990s has underfunded our schools. conversations with state legislators this session have not demonstrated that they are interested. Even if there was funding, I'm not sure that they would

073have stepped forward with more dollars for our schools. And the revenue forecast last week was not good. So, um I don't think it's going to get better and you know, I'm a little fearful that it that it could get worse. And so I appreciate the Latino network and the Portland Association of Teachers and others that are standing up and continuing to fight to at least keep what we thought we pretty comfortably had in pocket before the forecast came out. Um it's really going to take an effort of all of us reaching out to our legislators and making sure they feel really uncomfortable with making any further cuts to the governor's recommended budget level for school funding. So, if you haven't written on your legislator lately, it's a good time to write them again and let

074them know that it's critically important um to really keep that pressure on them so that they because I still remember two years ago hearing from legislators. I never hear from anybody about school funding. Um and I'm really personally trying to shift that narrative um uh for the legislators in Portland and beyond. So, um, after getting all of that out, um, I also just want to be candid that it's my first time looking at a budget. And I also want to give a lot of thanks to, um, director Brim Edwards who asked a ton of questions and reading her questions and the answers she got was really illuminating to me and helped me get through a document that was for me a little a little hard to get through as a newbie. Um, I'm looking forward

075to hope maybe we'll see what happens being part of a cohort that gets kind of the whole training and the whole experience before this next budget where I feel like I can be a more um effective advocate on behalf of our schools and families and kids and staff. Um, and so, um, having said all of that, I uh, remember, uh, Director Holland talking about transparency and also that it's not just having the light shine, but also making sure people can understand it. So, I look forward to working with Director Morrison um on that going forward when we have a chance to really do the work together instead of just being off to the races together basically. I think we started maybe the same day. I'm not sure. Real close. Um and so I think that'll

076be a fun process going forward to see how we can really help our community understand the budget and understand getting into the details and take it as a civics lesson that we can we can have with our families and even our students going forward. So, with that, I mean, I I'll be I'll approve acceptance of the budget and look forward to continuing the conversation and also just grateful for some of the news shared today. Um, that really demonstrates listening and flexibility. Um, and I think overall, um, the governor issued a really interesting statement after the budget forecast where she talked about that we all should be considering how to keep our eye on our long-term strategy and not fall into like feelings of scarcity or fear about what's to come. We all know the federal

077dynamic is really scary and intense and it makes us in a way want to go into ourselves and protect what we have, right? and be worried about the future. I think that's a form of giving up. I think that's a form of losing before we've already lost. So, I hope that we continue to have that spirit of we are going to get what we deserve. We're going to give our kids what they deserve. We're going to give our staff a great place to work and trying to have that attitude and not cower in sort of fear of what might happen down the road. So, I really appreciated that message from the governor and um I just want to continue to share that um and appreciate that it seems like you all are also having that

078attitude of let's not um forecast the worst and like wait until it actually happens and then deal with it. It's like finding that perfect balance between accepting the risk but also finding the hope and um and strength to endure a tough time. So, that those are my comments and I will leave it at that. Not very detailed but big picture. Thank you, Director SM. Those are good comments. Anybody else? I'm just going to make a short I have a something longer I'm going to say and have some questions, but I guess I'm just going to say this is my 12th PPS budget. And approval has always been approval, not just accepting the budget. Usually, we're accepting the budget when the superintendent delivers the budget to the board. That's sort of like the superintendent delivers it,

079the board accepts it and then it starts its work and the approval vote has always been the big vote. You actually the adoption was sort of the cleanup after like right before the year end. Um but just to show my flexibility, I'm going to be flexible tonight. Um because because I haven't gotten answers all to all my questions. Um, but I just want to note in the past our approval vote has always been the approval of the budget and then staff did all their magic and then we had our TSC hearing and then the adoption vote was really just sort of like a sentence on its sway. Um, yeah, it was really interesting hearing from like the experiences from other districts and how different it is across so many some places even have the approval

080and the adoption on the same day which is interesting. But yeah, thank you for that. Yes. I just want to appreciate that um the sped uh what you shared tonight that there were no reductions in sped and also I think a lot of people know I'm like early childhood getting the babies taken care of first getting the literacy up and so I'm also really happy um to hear that um I'm sorry you would that anyway that sped is fine and that our title one funds are also being restored. Um, also the enrichments. I mean, for some kids and many kids, including me, um, having the dance classes, the stained glass classes, the everything but algebra, um, you know, I I just love the enrichments. I think it's really important to keep that. It says a

081lot about our district and we have a lot of history in um, showing up as artists and creatives here. So, that's really important to instill in our in our uh, students. Yeah, I I wrote something up. Um, and I just we know that nobody's happy with this budget and we know that we need more dollars to give our students the education they need and that we want from them. However, I do agree with the CBRC that the budget attempts to spread cuts across most service areas and to protect classroom staffing as much as possible. I was so happy to hear tonight that, you know, title one is going to come and of course we want it in the classroom as Angela said. Um, we've been looking to the legislature for more funding and I at

082least was hopeful that at the very least the special education cap would be raised. Now it looks like that might not even happen since the budget forecast is less than expected and we also deal with other unfund unfunded mandates and I think we might even get another one. So, that's frustrating. And I would say that we as parents, teachers, board members, um, uh, staff and especially the superintendent have done a lot and Angela, you and your group, you're always in the legislature have done a lot to let the legislature know our needs. And I think they've listened, but it doesn't look like they help they can help us even if they want to. And I feel that unless we get rid of the kicker or pass a sales tax or hopefully both, it may well

083be that the legislature will never have enough money to fund schools to the quality education model. And we keep putting all of our eggs in this basket and it doesn't seem to be working. And we need to do what we can at the grassroots level. Last year we gave up foundation dollars and are now looking to the fund for PPS to help. And I think we really have to get behind there. Try to fill some of these gaps. We're funded per students. So, let's increase student enrollment by highlighting the wonderful things that are going on in our schools and getting the word out. I have been privileged to observe the talents of our students and the dedication of both parents and teachers over the last couple of months. I want to thank the Jefferson dancers,

084the Franklin dancers, early childhood classes at Sack Jia, all-star night, the battle of the books, Kermes at Scott Elementary, the book awards presented at OMSI, and the heart of Portland for sharing your energy and talent with me. People just don't know what goes on in this PPS community and it goes on all over. And you know, I'm mostly on the west side. I've been traveling around. I can't believe all the wonderful stuff that's going on and everybody's just so accepting. So, let's look at these things and support our goals that don't depend on the legislature. I've had a just in emails a lot of interesting things come in. Um, can we increase the school year ways to support our kids? Can early release times be on Monday mornings or Friday afternoons so that the week

085is not so broken up? Do we need to consolidate or close some schools to get the optimal number of students? These are ideas that have come from the community. Let's consider them. I believe that this budget is doing the best we can with what we have. I am saddened that we have had to let people go because of the need to cut positions. I can tell from my emails that these are some of the best and the brightest and it's so hard to lose them. I thank the teachers and other staff that are making unexpected changes and will do the best they can to make that change work for their students. And although I do not put much hope in the legislature to deliver all that we need, I and others will be going down

086again on Thursday to plead our case again. So, wish us luck. [Applause] Michelle, were you were you gonna say something? No, I wasn't. Okay. So, I have a bunch of qu So, I had a number of questions and I want to first start by thanking um staff for the sort of first round of answers I got. And um I had some follow-up questions because there were places where that I thought were important areas that I felt I didn't get um complete answers or it was a tentative answer and I thought I was going to have answers before tonight um to the follow-ups but um I didn't. So, I'm going to ask some of them here. And since now I get my I guess you get a mulligan um for the adoption for those sports uh

087fans or golf fans. But I will ask some of them. Um just I'm going to get them on the record and also just share some expectations that I have. So, um, starting in January, we had I appreciate there was the here's at a high level, um, where our budget is going to be and the types of reductions that are going to need to be, uh, made based on declining enrollment, uh, but also rising costs. And, um, those reductions kind of came into two categories. One were school-based and the other were central office based or more centrally based. And I feel like we had um and there were just g general categories. I think I feel like from the school-based ones um we got a really a lot of really detailed information and um you know

088I've got to thank doc Dr. Adams for the heat map because I think it tells stories about what's happening in our schools and how we're supporting our schools and allows us to look in terms of equity and what's happening there. So I I appreciated the level of detail because And because I feel like um we're fully knowledgeable about the impacts that the cuts are going to have on our our schools. Um and I feel the the impacts in the schools I really appreciate that they um the attempts to lessen the impacts on the classroom. Um generally our class sizes are still fairly low and um I feel like there is there was a support for equitable equity across the district in terms of making sure kids um didn't have um different experiences as PPS students.

089um you know there's some things that um distress me about some of the cuts but we we knew we know what they are and I think um to my colleagues who spoke about school funding uh we can so go fight for those. So most of my questions really revolve around the more central cuts and early on there were some general large general c sorry this is a long wind up but there long um but I'm not going to ask a lot of questions about the schoolbased cuts because I feel like um we have them and I I really appreciate staff doing as much as they can to support um things that I know are important to students and families um and staff. So, the central office ones, there were some large categories that I feel

090like we still don't have clarity on. Um, there was, you know, there's several million dollars in the category of professional development contracts, um, a lesser net amount in out of state travel, but it still was highlighted as here's some of the central office cuts. And I asked some questions and you can feel free to answer, but the answers I got that we wouldn't have details on that yet. And in the past, for example, um on the contracts, we we knew if we were going to be reducing contracts with um either uh for professional services or with our community based partners. So, I'm curious about the details about the cuts that are going to happen in those areas that were highlighted. There's going to be millions of dollar cuts because I'm not comfortable voting for a

091budget that I don't know what it is that we're cutting or what services are going to be discontinued or reduced. Thank you very much for your questions. Uh we we and we have provided a lot of responses um to date and by we I mean uh administrators as as they know the information and so I think one of the challenges we have at this point in the process is setting that highest level of spending. We've been, you know, running the district this year. We're actively running schools while we're trying to plan for next year and at the same time taking a pretty significant reduction and reorg to our central office staff. So many of those contracts, all of our contracts are going to be reviewed um including our transportation contracts, different facilities and maintenance contracts,

092and of course our service contracts to schools. So, they're um kind of in early negotiations right now. I think part of our challenge is really determining what supports we can still offer as a central office and what we will need to um work with our partners on to supplement what is going to be missing next year. And I know that that's not in detail and it's not in depth, but we are again setting that highest level of spending spending um with the hopes of being able to be flexible as we move into next year and really needing to do some renegotiations and communications with our partners about how can we work together um differently in a way that helps us both. So, I know early on like one of the contracts was with Let's Talk

093that was going to be eliminated completely. I'm curious there aren't ones that have already been decided. I mean, I'll just say in past budgets when we were going to reduce budgets, the board knew what was going to be reduced and um wasn't always um happy about it, but you we had a sense versus um voting on something and then finding out later we zeroed out this community organization or um or or we've left in place a contract that has less student impact than some other contract. So just saying in the past we've always had the the detail of what again um what it is that what services were deciding. I do appreciate that prioritize and it has been a transition year for the finance team and our leadership and working together um with superintendent Armstrong

094as we um approach these changes going into next year. So maybe a little bit behind in terms of details that are available early on. We knew that we were sunsetting let's talk with another communication um platform. So that's why that one was easy to speak to because we were already planning to sunset it. I don't think it's our intention at this point to to sunset anything that we haven't communicated against about. It's it's more about um again negotiating maybe different ways to work together that would meet the needs of our students and still involve our community partners at whatever level we can fund them. So in those three in those three categories do you see that the district um if it can't share what right now what those are what um the criteria would be

095or the transparency that they actually would be made. I think um I'll just speak as uh somebody who's been around for a long time that there's always the the thought that um things that aren't transparent may never happen and so um I'm wondering if there is a trans maybe it's a question for the superintendent as well a transparent process by which um people will see so there's there's plug numbers happen in here but a couple million dollars for I think It's like three million for each for each one of those or three for the contracts and two million for the um professional development and almost a million for the for the travel that actually when those reductions occur that that the board would be notified or that there would be some sort of process by

096here's by how we prioritize them. Well, I think probably by means of accountability and a feedback loop, we can track those. Those those were early estimates. So, knowing that we have uh implemented a a spending freeze, so to speak, that will be in place where we are very rigorously reviewing expenditures especially for travel as they um anything that's not directly impacting the student experience. So, that's been in place now for a few months. and also um kind of a hiring chill where we're very carefully reviewing um positions that aren't directly student facing um before we automatically refill them depending on um the work and and whether or not it can be redistributed. And I know that Dr. Armstrong has been working with leadership as well in terms of you know using data to drive our

097decisions around um our partners and how we engage with them and that would include student attendance um academics and participation frankly in the programs that are being offered. Thank you for that. I just wanted to um double click on what you said uh Michelle Morrison. So I appreciate that and also just a note that on the onset of this when engaged with the cabinet team the request was that they look at their budgets and reduce on the contract area by 10% where possible. Um some of our teams were able to go above the 10% and then in other places that didn't have significant uh other chiefs or other offices if you will um didn't have contracts that could be reduced. they were under that um 10% and so when I had mentioned earlier about uh

098through this budget process and and what as you know um director Brim Edwards what you're approving is the ceiling and so the budget that we have set for uh where we'll spend with contracts is um what we have listed as we continue to determine and capture where else we can save. I think we're going to continue to even with the ceiling, we're going to continue to reduce as much as we can over um the year so that we can reap those benefits in the next year. I guess I mean just even last year we had some like some disproportionate uh cuts to our community based partners which um in the end we um leveled those out and so um I guess I'm I'm still not hearing that that so say for example they took 10%.

099So, do you have a list of those that So, how are you going to get to the target of three million? And yeah, I think I understand your question. So, I have um Thank you, Chief Adams here to speak. We actually had a conversation about the way in he'll engage in the process with the reduction of 15%. So I think you're correct in the fact that last year there was a reduction named and then there was a complete adback which was significantly impactful to the budget as we needed to uh find where to pull those form uh those funds from. So sure good evening everyone um first I want to um note that the total reduction for resj contracts out of the amounts that have been named is just 1 point not just but it's

1001.1 million. So, I can't speak to these other buckets that you're talking about because I don't have those contracts under my purview. Um, what our intention is is to not have um disproportionate cuts and to work with each of the community- based organizations to work on a scope of work so that students still receive some services. Maybe what I'm looking for and maybe this is a offline conversation between now and adoption is just how that will be transparent. I mean I I don't feel comfortable voting for something then like it's just going to be whatever gets decided. Um because I you know some of the cuts are for example personal service contracts. I'm looking at this just general list. It's you know $3.4 million. Um and we all probably will feel differently about you know

101what might what that might be. So I'm more I guess if you can't say what it is is like what is the process by which that will be transparent. So at the end of the day how you get to $3.4 million in cuts what's that in what's included in that? And like I say, I said the same question about um professional development which had was several two 2.2 million and then there's you know out of almost a million dollars of out of state travel. One of the examples that I can share looking at professional development, I know one of the shifts was uh the purchase of food or even just uh coffee which you would be surprised how much uh that is to provide for educators on a full day uh professional uh development session,

102right? Significant to have it and significant in cost. And so that was reduced. So I think what I hear you're asking for a line item by office of all of the reductions that were cut because it's things like that, right? Where it could be an actual person that provided training or support and that's reduced down by maybe weeks or days to eliminating the coffee c the coffee cart or um other things. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um I've seen those price for the coffee service and is shockingly expensive. Um, we don't want our teachers uncaffeinated though. Um, I mean, you would not believe how expensive it is. I mean, expensive. But I guess I I do want to see that because actually I think that builds trust and credibility in the district of people see what's happening

103in our schools and those cuts are real and then it becomes like well like the central office didn't take any cuts or what what happened there and I I mean I I think from my standpoint when people understand that things have been prioritized they can see transparently what happened. Um I think two things happen. They have a better un understanding that um the cuts are real. It's not just you know being hoisted off on the schools. But the second thing is I also think it um creates um a collective um spirit around what we need to do in terms of school funding and um actually looking at like how do how we prioritize things. So yes, that is what I'm looking for. Okay. Yeah. We can we can um rally around that and appropriately respond.

104So then um this before the budget adoption I asked for the board office budget which we don't have. Um, I don't need it tonight obviously, but see what the board office budget and I would expect I would expect the board, it's not a lot of money, but to be taking a corresponding cut in travel. This is a kind of a detailed question, but question number 23 around other instructional professional technical services. It's $3 million and it looks like it's just a discretionary fund. And when I asked about what it was, the answer wasn't very specific. Are you on volume one and page what? No, I'm I'm on my questions. Oh, question 23. Oh, question 23. Yeah, that's hilarious. Version two. Um so that's something for the adoption and then question 26 was more I I

105was trying to understand how many FTE we actually are reducing whether it was 240 or two my follow-up question 240 or 270 and then whichever like what the actual total was and then just confirming that 157 of those are teachers. Thank you. My team is helping me out right now. They're getting me right to that space in the 30 pages of questions and responses. So, um, for the the FTE question, I think one of the challenges in responding to the reduction in FTE was what were we reducing from? Were we reducing from the adopted budget or the current year actuals? And so I think that's where it got a little bit unhinged and difficult to say what are the reductions because as we mentioned earlier the budget is the highest level of spending and as

106positions are filled or not filled or new student needs arrive we make some different choices throughout the year that's that's managing those services. So I think in um the responses we did have a table that shows exactly um what was in the proposed budget and what our actuals uh were in FTE is as is April and then kind of what the difference was there. So because we had more FTE in April than what was in the proposed budget, whether we converted discretionary funds or there were other things that created that higher number of FTE for us, then the budget reduction seemed um larger because that was a higher number than when we put uh adopted the budget from the prior year. So again, just reminding everyone that there's a little bit of this going on

107and that the budget is a guideline. So, I know that that is in the responses. I just saw it a few minutes ago. Does that help answer your question? So, let's pick one of one of the like from the actual h how many individuals had their position cuts. That's a different question. Like FT's here and here's why I say Director B Edwards, we could say we've reduced one FTE. That could be two halftime staff members. So FTE and people don't always equal the same exact number. Okay. I could ask it any It's not a true question. I'm just trying to figure out like what got reduced. Um maybe a better way to ask is like how many positions were eliminated? positions eliminated? Not because I know PE because of people um not being if they're

108not laid off and they get another position, they actually haven't been haven't left. But how many positions were reduced? So across various areas, we had a reduction from current FTE, which again it doesn't necessarily crosswalk exactly two positions. um was a total of I want to say it's a long answer for you and it did include some uh vacancies as well. So positions that were in our budget that hadn't been filled. So we have for fiscal year 26, the district has reported an approximate reduction, again depending on the day of the week that we pull the report, of 240 FTE based on actual filled positions and vacancies, while the proposed budget reflects a reduction of about 270 FTE compared to a current year staffing snapshot because you're saying actually there were more FTE last year

109than were budgeted because say non position funds were converted into FTE. That was part of it. Okay. Yes. Okay. So let's say two 240 and then Dr. Adams on your like heat map of all the schools it had 157 teachers as of that date as as of the watermark. Yes. Okay. So, can you do the math from two I mean, is it appropriate to do the math from 240 to 15 minus 157 to get how many are non teacher reductions or is that not a linear equation? I'm trying to make sure I heard you and I'm just processing. Um if if there were 240 positions reduced and and 157 of those were teachers, then the remainder 60 83 are non teaching staff approximately. That's my understanding. Okay, that's just what I was trying to get

110at with that question. Thank you. And that would be central office represented, non-represented, everything else. Yeah. Across the board. [Music] Um, I also asked a question about whether any contracting out was assumed and the answer I think that I that I received was I would translate it into a yes, but I asked whether that was actually by contracting out. Are you referring to um I I heard a lot quite a bit about the print shop services. So is that what you mean by contracting out? Well, any service that currently is provided by a district employee being done by a non-district employee. I mean the print shop could be an example, but there's any number of other things that could be contracting out. And the answer that I got seemed to imply that the answer would

111be yes potentially. Well, I think transportation services is a good example of where we are currently trans, you know, contracting out bus drivers and we will continue to do that. We're in a in the middle of an agreement with them, our providers. Um there's not been any suggestions um to my team in terms of uh contracting out additional services that we would already provide staff to. I can say that if we are uh if it's a position that's very hard to fill, but that's what our students need, then there is a potential whether it's a school nurse or um you know to to fill that gap while that vacancy is is being posted. there might be potential just to meet the needs of the students, but it's not the intention for us to contract out

112any um labor positions at this time. Can I ask a follow-up question? Just break it up a little bit. Pardon? Can I ask a follow-up question? Oh, yeah. Go ahead. Uh on that topic, um I'm curious what the uh we had some discussion about the printing the print shop. Is that what it was called? is has that has that changed at all because I know we're talking about contracting that out which has been more expensive than having it hasn't changed. I would love the opportunity to share the information um verbally which was shared in the Q&A that was provided. So, we went back and did our research and when you're reading the budget document for the line item for print shop services, it does appear that there's a significant change there. But we when we

113compare all of the categories of the print shop cost um projected versus actual um we're looking at uh just under $500,000 in projected savings for our current arrangement. And I know that we're working hard with another school district partner to to create even more savings and keep those tax dollars in our school system. So that's, you know, really thoughtful and deliberate, although it doesn't read directly across on a single line item within our budget document. So that information was provided on page 10 of the Q&A. It's question number 35. Although um it's interesting because that response has generated more mail than almost any other item from school people about how actually the the district numbers and people feel like there was like paper where paper was paid for was different things and um staff time.

114I it was interesting because a lot of people had feel a lot of feelings about the print shop and the value it provided. I'm I'm curious about the last thing you said because I did hear that um PPS is looking to contract with Hillsboro School District to do printing. Um which kind of makes me sad that we don't have our own printing that we're going to a different school district. How is it that they can provide printing cheaper than they have um procured equipment that enables them to do they do a lot of intergovernmental printing like for the city and the county uh Washington County and um they just have the ability to do the staffing um and provide the the online ordering platform. Um I don't know why that happened in Hillsboro and it

115didn't happen in PPS. I wasn't here at that time, but um that uh district has a real enterprise way of looking at providing those services um with the eye on keeping those dollars within our school systems and not necessarily for farming them out to a private provider. I have a comment about that. Sometimes with um local governments, they have these like cooperative purchasing agreements. And so you're not just contracting for your own entity. You're going in on services. And it sounds like um Hillsboro is doing what I call a McDonaldization where they grow their own potatoes and they you know they they they source as much internally as possible. It just sounds like they have a completely different uh business model. they do and we can provide additional information. I know that the agreement is

116under development right now. I haven't seen it. I'm not directly involved with it. Um but I do I do know that the intent is to save dollars and still provide great service to schools. So um I'm sorry to hear that the feedback has not been positive this year. It's good that we're keeping the dollars in Oregon. Well, actually it's just our former employees working at Hillsboro. Um so um I asked about this earlier but the budget doesn't have any clear place um in the budget that there's funds for the Center for Black Student Excellence and if we're going to be getting a potential lease. It's concerning if there's nothing in the budget to to support us owning a building and I'm assuming some sort of operating I I think we're in the process of developing

117that currently. I know that we are planning to support a coordinator for those services, but I think that again that plan may not be as final as as we would like it to be at this date for you. Are you are you thinking about the operating costs of the building like utilities and customers? I mean I looked at the the initial plan and there were there was a lot of dependency on a potentially potend dependency on PPS providing the whole a whole host of suite of services and maybe that's not contemplated but that's what a the former employee or the former director had in. So, it would concern me that we were getting a building and we don't have anything in the budget that indicates that we have the funds to operate it. Um, but

118maybe before adoption because I think that's is adoption on the 10th as well. Yeah, it is. I don't not sure that we would have that level of detail. I think what we've talked about as a team is that uh we h we need to first be in some sort of um purchasing contract with the builder to understand what all the costs would be to operate, maintain, and protect our asset. And so, um, I think we're seeing that as the next step while we're in conversation and thinking about, um, the way in which we may go about it, until we know exactly what we're dealing with in terms of, um, operating costs and maintenance and utilities and all of that, we have to identify the site first. Yeah. And and I only say that wouldn't we

119do that though before we make an offer on a building to know what it costs to maintain it or what our ser the services. Well, this might be getting too far in the weeds, but uh for Oh, it's never too far in the weeds for me. Oh, okay. So, you know, it could be let's give a sample scenario where we purchase a building that has the opportunity for us to have um lease agreements and we're able to receive some funds there that can cover the operating costs, right? So, that the building is um self-supporting. Um, and so that is something that uh we're hoping and that's of high interest to us because we know that uh we have funds declining um due to enrollment and just increased operating costs. Um and so that are things

120that will factor in when preparing to present information to the board on a purchase. So that's why we don't see anything in the budget other than the position of the director. Absolutely. Yes. Okay. Um I've raised this several times about the issues with the Southeast Guiding Coalition Schools. So purposely the district said that they would have 10 um FTE for balancing for five years because the tale of um the boundary changes, program closures, program moves and the decision was not made not to put those 10 in. And so my and the answer was if schools community asked for for the resources um they would get them. So I would just ask to understand I don't have to have it now but understand what those school community asked for and what if anything they got and

121I know in the past not all the 10 FTEEs were distributed so it wasn't that they had to be distributed but they were sort of available in a pool so I'd like that be before adoption just to understand what was asked for um also but historical information not no what happened this year because What I was told when I was asked is no, we didn't set aside 10, but those schools could ask for FTE and it would be considered as part of the process. And so my question is, did any of them ask for for FTE and did they get it? Got it. Does that make sense? I don't All right, Chief Frank, are you prepared to answer that now? I I I don't need it. You just you can just send it to me.

122Okay, perfect. Um, can I say in the past years it wasn't always the full 10. So, it's not a wrong answer if it's not the full 10, but I would want to know. Sure. Um, did a community meeting ever happen with any of those school communities because I was told that would happen. A community meeting uh this this year? Yes. Um, your team said that when when I asked whether they're spending engagement with the school communities. Yeah. Let me just pull Chief Franco forward since we're asking about community engagement with the Southeast Guiding Coalition schools primarily the ones that were most impacted the Mary'svilles, the Brides, the Lents. Yeah. Harrison Park. Yeah. So, sorry. Hey, everybody. Um, so from a community engagement perspective, not necessarily community, but we did engage principles. uh this is very

123similar to the process that we did last year. I'd say the difference and and you said it right at the very end there is that even though we don't have the specific 10 set aside that bucket um they were allowed and permitted to engage in our in our process of requesting set aside. And so it is it is a smaller amount and so we really have to go through and we do look specifically and whether or not they are set aside school and if they're requesting we do look at that and so when we when we allocate it's really in the spring it's really about technical adjustments to see and and we try to stay true overarchingly to the bridge and program and those types of things. I'm sorry. Um, did you say that you

124have distributed some? And I know in the past sometimes it was like a two or Yeah, we have. So, we've done a few spring rebalancing already. So, we've done two. We're actually going to look again um this Thursday. Uh because one of the things that we talked about as a cabinet with Dr. Armstrong is is let's see what we could do to get it right before the fall. and we and we are looking at really what are the technical pieces. But then two, you know, we've we just we sent out um online verification uh opportunities via synergy. That's a new avenue platform that we really haven't pushed forward, but now we are to see uh where's our enrollment as opposed to just looking at PSU's projections so that we can get it right before the

125fall. I know that was a big piece from from school. Can I just pause on that because I really want to underscore that. So, one of the things that we heard from educators is how difficult it is to be in buildings not balanced and then have to um move or um have classes collapse after the school year has started. And so there just I just want to underscore because I think this is an important thing to note is that not only did we add in additional reviews because you know prior to this year it was the allocation of staffing um maybe for some of those um unique situations there was an allocation but the rest of it was waiting until um fall enrollment and sometimes October. So, as uh Chief Franco mentioned, there'll be a

126third review because what we committed to our schools is that if there are extra efforts for enrollment or um the numbers that we're sharing isn't matching their reality that we would commit to review that so that we can make sure we're getting staffing as right as possible because I think we've missed the mark in many places over the last couple of years. And then also the other point is the um families having the opportunity to confirm enrollment in the fall which would help our schools with low enrollment to be able to show their numbers and use that as evidence of why you know maybe that extra second grade um class should be funded because of you know a spike in enrollment or something like that. So I just I wanted to just underscore that. So

127I'm sorry. Yeah. And I guess I'm specifically speaking to the Southeast Guiding Coalition schools and primarily the ones that had the biggest impact. And frankly, I'm um one of the issues of just talking to the principles is most of the principles have changed or many of the principles have changed. So they weren't even here during the whole process, but the parents still remember and you know feel the impact of the boundary changes, program closures, programs moving. Um, so, um, I hope we're continuing to communicate with the whole school community, um, because I really feel like the district made a promise we and it was a challenging time. Thank you. So, you're going to get me whatever the increments as of whatever, whatever point in time. Thank you. Um, and I think the appropriate response then

128if parents are asking us about that is they should talk to their principal. Is that Yeah, absolutely. Everything I think is first with the principal. Okay. And the arts pathway school there was the link's not in here. So be great to get that. Um there's a pending response on the salaries for the new salary schedule. Um so I'd appreciate that. And the last question I think I had um was answered in the superintendent. This is a great way to close was answered in the superintendent's uh opening which was the title one funds I was asking about what we're doing with that because that's just a huge amount of money. And so is it that we know that the federal government's going to give us the money or how how is it that we know that

129we will have it? I'm just suspicious not not of the district but of like the federal government. Yes, I think I can take a a shot at answering that and I know that I have our chief financial officer to help keep me in line. But at the federal level, um, as in most places, uh, they plan budgets a year early. So, actually the title budget was, um, adopted at the federal level, um, several months ago is what we were told. And what we were waiting for was to make sure that there were um some protections there so that there wouldn't be any surprise uh pullbacks and whatnot. And so what I've heard from um some individuals is that um it would actually be illegal for them to do that. And all of the considerations that

130they're making now are those considerations for um the 2627 school year. Now, one of the things that we needed to also wait for was the distribution from the Oregon Department of Education where there are some districts out there that will receive a lesser amount, but it's because of the change in demographics and the in uh decrease in enrollment. Um that's not our situation with the change in demographics, but that is the reality for some folks. And so um knowing that those funds will be um now released to OD, everyone is moving forward with um the distribution of those uh resources while still now thinking about what may come forward in 2627. I see Chief Bunode, is there anything you want to add to that? Nope. Okay. So that's the short answer. I really appreciate that

131and I want to thank the rest of the board for um your patience while I worked through the questions um because I was going to be just an abstain um and I think I'm um a lot of my questions got answered and um I think or I'm expecting answers. I really am just going back to the very first um questions about um the contracts, the professional development and the out of state travel. Um, I'll just follow up with the superintendent and Chief Morrison about um just like what what that process would look like because again I think it builds trust in the the district and credibility that like yes, the things that we said are going to happen are it's not just happening at your school, it's happening across across the board. Thank you Dr.

132Ben Lowers. Those are a lot of good questions. I'm glad that you asked them. I'm a little sad that we didn't end on director Sullivan's wonderful speech. So, I was wondering if you could have another close for us before we put this up for bill. Do a like grand finale at the adoption since since we're just accepting. All right. Can I just make a quick comment? I think but I'm not positive. I've heard multiple of us talk about how excited we are about the return of the title one funds and I think we've all been saying that we hope those are focused on staffing and in classrooms. So, I just wanted to like tie that in up. Yeah. Well, and so our title funds are they're not decisions uh that we're making in central office.

133The title funds are sent to schools and then the principles based on their programming and the needs and the reason uh why you know those funds are even in place for the demographic of students that it's meant to support make those decisions locally. Um so we you know distribute monitor support but the decision is local. Yeah. So it's kind of like akin to the equity funds in a way in that sense. The schools some schools get equity funds and they get to decide how to use them. The same goes for there are parameters um based on their school improvement plan um how they how they got to be identified. How are they um working on parent and family involvement? What about professional development? and then you can use it for staffing. Great. Okay. Thank you

134so much. I appreciate the um added information that I didn't know. Great. Thank you for that. All right. Uh assuming there's no further questions. Actually, can I make one one last comment? This is just a comment, but there's been a lot of talk about a ceiling and about a ceiling like we're setting ceilings for the funds and in the past generally it's like the board is setting like intent and so Christy when you said I'm sorry um director split um the like thinking it's going to title one so it's from my perspective when the board votes on something there's like there is usually like board intent versus not just a versus a ceiling. Um, and so I wouldn't want to lose it and like all we're doing is just setting the ceiling and you know,

135anything below the ceiling is um is okay because I do think there's board intent and we certainly hear um when things happen that seem contrary to what seem to be the board intent. Great. Thank you for that clarification. All right. Uh, the board will now vote on resolution 7116, budget committee approval of the 202526 budget and the imposition of property taxes. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. Yes. Yes. All opposed. Abstensions. All right. Resolution 7116 is approved by a vote of five to zero. Thank you everyone for your patience and we're happy to be done before 9. So the budget committee is now adjourned. Thank you.