Portland Public Schools

With Oregon’s public schools about to get a major infusion of funding from the state, Portland Public Schools will embark on a series of community meetings at which families, students and community members will help us shape how the money from the Student Success Act will be used in the district.

Please plan to attend one of the following meetings to offer your feedback and ask questions about PPS’s plans for Student Success Act funding:

• Thursday, October 17, 6 p.m., Lent K-8 School (5105 SE 97th Ave.)
• Saturday, October 19, 9 a.m., Faubion PK-8 School (2930 NE Dekum St.)
• Tuesday, October 22, 6 p.m., Roosevelt High School (6941 N. Central St.)

The Student Success Act originated as House Bill 3427 and was signed into law by Gov. Kate Brown. It provides a historic $2 billion investment in the state’s preK-12 education system.

"This is a huge and historic win for public education in general and for Portland Public Schools in particular," PPS Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero wrote in a letter to the community. "Our work begins now to lay out a plan for how we will use our share of the additional funds, starting in the 2020-21 school year, in ways that will improve the educational experience for all of our diverse learners."

The infusion of funding will help PPS begin the transformative work to fulfill the long-term vision for the district identified through a comprehensive, community-oriented Visioning process. The PPS Vision (read the full Visioning document) describes our goals for the graduating class of 2030, and the educational experience that will increasingly be the reality for each of our graduates from 2019 onward.

How the Student Success Act money is allocated
Student Investment Account, 50%: The Student Success Act dedicates half of its funding to a newly-established Student Investment Account that will be distributed as non-competitive grants to all Oregon school districts and eligible charter schools. Districts are allowed to invest that money toward addressing class size, providing a well-rounded education, instructional time, and health and safety. Within those four investment categories, districts have these five priority areas:

• Reducing academic disparities for students who are of color; have disabilities; are emerging bilingual; are navigating poverty, homelessness and foster care; or have historically experienced disparities in schools
• Meeting students' mental and behavioral health needs
• Providing access to academic courses
• Allowing teachers and staff sufficient time to collaborate, review data and develop strategies to help students stay on track to graduate
• Establishing and strengthening partnerships

Statewide Education Initiatives Account, 30%:  Dedicated to expanding school breakfast and lunch programs, operating the youth reengagement system, establishing the Statewide School Safety and Prevention System, developing statewide equity initiatives, providing summer learning programs for certain schools and full funding for Measure 98 (which provides direct funding to school districts to increase high school graduation rates).

Early Learning Account, 20%: Dedicated to early childhood special education and early intervention services, relief nurseries, professional development, Head Start programs, among others. The grants are aimed at promoting capacity of culturally-specific organizations and reducing the equity gap for early childhood program

Other forms of feedback
In addition to the community meetings, members of the public will be able to offer feedback through an online form that will soon be available at www.pps.net/studentsuccessact.