Save PDX Schools
Our questions for PPS and the Board
savepdxschools.org/questions
Financial accountability
#- What is the projected net financial effect of each proposal compared with keeping the current school configuration, after transportation, staffing transitions, renovations, transition supports, and other implementation costs?
- Which budget years would benefit, and by how much?
- Follow-up: Will PPS publish a school-by-school, five- and ten-year analysis before the Board votes, identifying assumptions, one-time costs, ongoing savings, and uncertainty?
- Follow-up: How does each proposal account for additional enrollment loss if affected families leave PPS, and how would that change projected funding and net savings?
Source context
QEM enrollment targets and staffing transparency
#- What evidence supports using the Quality Education Model’s (QEM) 360-student elementary prototype as an enrollment target for PPS, and how does PPS account for its accompanying class-size, staffing, and student-support assumptions?
- What evidence shows that smaller schools cannot provide comparable educational quality?
- Follow-up: Will PPS publish school-by-school staffing plans for each proposal, including receiving schools, before the vote, showing projected enrollment by grade, the number of classrooms and teachers, expected class sizes, and specialist and support staffing?
- Follow-up: How do those plans compare with the QEM prototype, and how would staffing adjust if enrollment differs from projections?
Equity and student displacement
#- How will PPS assess and reduce disruption and potential harm for students changing schools, particularly students with disabilities, neurodivergent students, low-income families, and children who depend on stable relationships and specialized programs?
- What evidence will show that each receiving school can meet their needs while maintaining services for current students?
- Follow-up: Will PPS publish school-specific equity assessments and readiness plans before the vote, covering accessibility, transportation, staffing, and student support capacity?
Source context
Transportation and emergency planning
#- For each proposed school or program move, what travel times, transportation services, and costs is PPS planning for, and how will it ensure students arrive on time?
- Follow-up: What maximum one-way travel time will PPS use, how will it address students’ individual transportation needs, and what emergency reunification arrangements will support families who cannot quickly reach the new school?
Dual language immersion and student safety
#- For each dual language immersion (DLI) program proposed for consolidation, how has PPS assessed academic continuity, transportation access, cultural connections, and student and family safety?
- How were affected families involved?
- Follow-up: What immigration-enforcement concerns have families raised, what safeguards will PPS provide, and how will it communicate those safeguards without asking families to disclose immigration status?
Source context
Transparency and independent oversight
#- Will PPS publish who developed and reviewed the “rightsizing” proposals, the roles of any outside consultants or contractors, their relevant contracts and financial relationships with PPS, and any disclosed conflicts of interest and how those conflicts were managed?
- Follow-up: Will the Board obtain and publish an independent review of the financial assumptions and decision-making process before approving closures?
Source context
How community input can change the proposals
#- What specific evidence or community feedback could lead PPS to remove a school from a proposed closure list, preserve a program, revise a boundary, or recommend delaying the vote?
- Follow-up: Will PPS publish which community recommendations were accepted, which were rejected, and why, alongside the final recommendation?
Source context
Checkpoints and preserving options
#- How will PPS phase these decisions over the five-year planning horizon, with public checkpoints to compare actual enrollment, costs, and student outcomes against its forecasts?
- What findings would trigger a change in course, and which decisions could still be paused or revised at each checkpoint?
- Follow-up: Before taking steps that are difficult to reverse, such as selling or permanently repurposing school buildings, what evidence and Board approval will be required?
Information required before a vote
#- What information does each Board member still need to evaluate these proposals, and will voting members commit to delaying a decision if that information has not been provided?
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