This is why we need a healthy reserve fund
The Oregon Supreme Court declined yesterday to revisit last October’s ruling that Portland Public Schools unfairly terminated their custodians, and may owe up to $64 million in fines and back wages.
In recent years under Superintendents Jim Scherzinger and now Vicki Phillips, the district has been trying to build up a reserve fund to help soften the blow from sinkholes like this one. The district was on the verge of spending their reserves down dangerously low in order to fill the funding gap this fall; thankfully, the emergence of other sources of funding helped prevent that.
I don’t want to revisit the rightness of the decision(s), nor am I suggesting that this year’s school closures are being done in part to pay this overdue bill. But when parents protest that saving ‘only 2-4 million dollars a year’ by closing schools doesn’t amount to much, I’d point to this catastrophe as a prime example of why we need to be paring money in any way we possibly can.
This year, the chips were falling our way - from excess monies back from the state to PERS expenses that came in lower than forecasted. Plus lottery dollars. Plus the ability to renew the gap bond. And while it’s easy to get complacent now that a Salem solution looks more likely than it has in recent years, the reality is that the district still sits on a constantly shifting pot of resources, and is still living in a house with too many rooms.
Every penny counts. Building up a decent reserve is important. And it’s also important that the district rightsize, for both the short- and long-term.
That’s why I fully support Vicki Phillips’ school reconfiguration plan. If you do too, but wanted to stay out of the fray? It’s time to step up to the table and lend your voice. You can start by emailing all seven school board representatives at schoolboard@pps.k12.or.us.
And if you want to do more than that, email me at betsywhim at gmail dot com.
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What we really need to do- but no politician has the guts to use h/her bully pulpit to demand this, is to repeal Measure 5. Every other solution is palliative, IMHO.
School funding problems all map back to this noxious, selfish moment in Oregon political history. Of course, repeal would never pass, but someone needs to try.
We should be holding those people who violated laws and fired the custodians accountable (Goldshmidt etal and probably the Portland Schools Foundation and all the moneyed business people who ARE PPS) and have them pay it back…Hey, maybe that golden parachute Goldschmidt collected could be a starter….Now how much was that??????????????
We should be holding those people who violated laws and fired the custodians accountable (Goldshmidt etal and probably the Portland Schools Foundation and all the moneyed business people who ARE PPS) and have them pay it back…Hey, maybe that golden parachute Goldschmidt collected could be a starter….Now how much was that?????????????? PR machine at PPS is still working I see, as it has convinced Betsy of the need to back the school closures in order to “SAVE MONEY!” Go read about what is happening down in Oakland if you want the real story, Betsy.