Every child and family deserves access to opportunity, regardless of zip code.
We are families, educators and neighbors from Portland's Title I schools. As Portland Public Schools decides how to right-size the district, we are working to keep equity at the center of that decision.
Where things stand
Proposals released
Portland Public Schools has published its proposed right-sizing plans.
Community input now
Time to examine the proposals, verify the data, hear from families and staff, and improve the recommendations.
Board decision
The Board is expected to decide in December.
Implementation
Changes take effect for the next school year. A delay pushes them back a full year.
Our approach to educational equity
We believe every student deserves a strong, well-resourced public school. Achieving that goal requires more than treating every school or community the same. It requires understanding differences in students' needs, recognizing existing disparities, and ensuring that decisions do not perpetuate inequities.
Historically, school closures and other major changes in Portland Public Schools have disproportionately affected Title I schools and historically underserved communities. The current right-sizing proposals represent a shift in that pattern, with Title I and historically underserved communities being impacted more equally.
We recognize this as a meaningful distinction. But equality is not the same as equity.
Equal impact does not automatically produce equitable outcomes. Communities have different needs, resources, histories, and capacities to navigate change. We will continue to advocate for decisions that account for those differences and ensure that Title I students and families have the resources and support they need to thrive.
We believe this is an opportunity not only to address the district's enrollment and resource challenges, but also to make meaningful progress toward educational equity. As PPS determines how schools will be organized and resources distributed, the needs of Title I communities must remain central to the conversation.
Our goal is not to pit schools against one another. It is to help build a school system in which every community has the resources it needs and students' opportunities do not depend on their family's income or their school's existing advantages.
The current right-sizing process
Portland Public Schools has released its proposed right-sizing plans. The next two months are an important opportunity to examine those proposals carefully, verify data, challenge assumptions, hear from families and staff, and improve recommendations where the evidence supports a change.
For Title I communities, this process is about more than school buildings and enrollment numbers. It is about how the district distributes limited resources, how students and families experience transitions, and whether the schools that remain are equipped to meet their communities' needs.
We believe the current proposals offer an opportunity to move toward a more equitable distribution of resources. But that opportunity will only be realized if equity remains a central consideration throughout the decision-making process and implementation.
What we are asking of PPS
We urge district leaders to use the time before the Board's anticipated December decision to:
- Verify enrollment projections, utilization data, and the assumptions underlying the proposals.
- Listen meaningfully to families and staff, particularly in communities facing closure or significant disruption.
- Evaluate transportation, receiving-school capacity, staffing, programs, and the quality of proposed transitions.
- Examine how proposed boundary changes may affect Title I status and the resources available to schools across the district.
- Identify the additional staffing, funding, services, and other supports receiving schools will need.
- Make changes when evidence, community input, or identified errors demonstrate that a different approach would better serve students.
- Ensure that the final decisions advance equitable outcomes, rather than simply distributing changes more equally.
We recognize that families whose schools are proposed for closure or significant disruption have legitimate concerns and deserve to be heard. Their advocacy is an important part of identifying problems and improving the final plan.
At the same time, we believe it is important to distinguish between taking the time necessary to improve a proposal and postponing a decision altogether.
Why timing matters
We are concerned about calls to postpone the Board's decision beyond December. A delay would not simply extend the public conversation. It would also postpone implementation for an entire school year.
The status quo is not neutral. Declining enrollment, excess school capacity, and constrained resources already affect students and schools. Title I communities often rely more heavily on limited school-based resources and supports, making the consequences of continued resource constraints particularly significant.
A longer process does not automatically produce a more equitable outcome. Participation requires time, information, transportation, childcare, language access, and the ability to attend repeated meetings and sustain advocacy over many months. Those resources are not equally available to every family.
Experiences in other school districts show that postponing consolidation decisions does not guarantee better outcomes or greater equity. More time can be valuable, but only when it is used to address specific problems and improve decisions.
Listening and postponing are not the same thing.
We believe PPS should use the coming weeks to listen carefully, address legitimate concerns, verify the data, and improve the proposals wherever necessary. The goal should be to make the best decision possible in December, based on the strongest available evidence and meaningful community input.
If significant unresolved issues make that impossible, the need for additional time should be evaluated based on the evidence at that point.
Our concern is not with families advocating for their schools. It is with assuming that delay itself will produce equity. Delay is also a decision, and its consequences must be considered alongside the consequences of change.
Equity is not just about which schools are changed. It is also about who bears the consequences of waiting.
Our commitment
The PPS Title I Coalition will continue to advocate for Title I communities throughout this process and beyond.
We will ask difficult questions, share information, elevate community experiences, and push district leaders to consider the full consequences of their decisions. We will celebrate the strengths of our school communities while advocating for the resources students need.
We know that families may disagree about individual proposals. We do not need to agree on every decision to recognize our shared responsibility to one another.
Our commitment is to ensure that Title I communities are heard, that equity is more than a stated value, and that decisions about Portland's public schools lead to stronger, better-resourced opportunities for the students who need them most.
Add your voice
Parents, teachers, neighbors and organizations are all part of this. Tell us which school community you belong to, ask a question, or share what you are seeing.