To the Editor:
There are $40 million in budget cuts happening to schools within Portland Public Schools (PPS) right now, and they are going to cut staff, support for students and extracurriculars. They are cutting approximately 228 staff members, and they might cut art, music and sports.
Why are we having these cuts? Well, inflation is happening everywhere so staff salaries and classroom supplies are getting more expensive, and because of this, we aren’t getting as much funding as we were getting in past years. PPS used to get pandemic funds but those have ended. PPS is also getting lower enrollment rates, and PPS gets their funds based on student numbers—so if we get less students, then that means we get less funding.
We have had budget cuts before but not this much, and it hasn’t affected schools this much until now—so I want the public to help reduce this cut. What can you do to help reduce it? Email your senate representative and house representative. Go to school board meetings—tell them your story and let them know that they should get more money from the state so they don’t have to do these huge budget cuts. Tell your friends and family, we need everyone’s help to reduce these budget cuts.
We need dance, theater, arts and music; school can’t just be classes that are required to graduate because then it will be boring. The arts make our schools more alive and more happy. Schools shouldn’t stifle creativity, they should embrace them. Teachers and staff members who work so hard to teach and help students shouldn’t have to worry about losing their jobs. Schools deserve funding; education is so valuable. So I’m asking you, the public, to please help and email your reps!
Elina Minato, Franklin High School student
Editor’s note: Letters to the Editor should be less than 300 words and The Southeast Examiner reserves the right to edit them for length or content.