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There are various ways to eliminate PPS deficit of $50-65 million. The first way is to decrease teacher pay. Teacher pay in Oregon is estimated to be around $90-100,000 per year relative to the average personal income in Oregon which is around $70,000.1 Teachers also only work 9 months of the year. In Portland estimated salary is higher $100-110,000 due to higher average income of the region around $85,000. There are possibly ways to also increase efficiency including increasing class sizes, possibly cutting down support services, and increasing efficiency of disability services. The consutrction costs and debt services are also exgtensive. Most of the construction that has been recently done and proposed for the future are unecessary and seem to often be overpriced. The Franklin high school rennovation in 2015 of $122 million cost probably around doube the market rate.
Table A: Teacher Pay by State
This table shows relative treacher pay by state in 2024, before PPS strikes raised teacher pay. At this point Oregon already had one of the higest theacher pay rates. GDP per capita represents rvenue per capita in each state, and is direct reflaction of income per capita, as both change at the samre rate as income is simply a portion of the revenue. States with the highest teacher pay as a percent of the GDP per capita have the highest real teacher pay. Prices also vary by state similary.2 The strikes led to an agreement that teacher pay would increase 24% over 3 years, 14% for general increase, and 10% for inflation adjusted increase.3
teachers incomes.xlsxTable B: PPS Budget 2026-27
The total pps Budget is 2.7 billion with a student poplation of 42,000, compared to Beaverton school district of 1.42 billion with 36,000 students. The cost of direct staff is around 515.000 million (licensed salries, classfied -represented, non represented staff, administrators, other salaries), including pers and health care benefits of $296 million (associated payroll costs) a total of $811 million. Hiring staff that don't directly work for PPS cost 436 million (purchased services). Supplies and material $108 million. Construction costs $1 billion (capital outlay). Debt payments $345 million (other projects). The current deficit is around $50 million, if teacher pay (cost of direct staff) is decreased by 7% the deficti would be eliminated.
References
1 Personal income Retrieved from https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MAPAINUSA646N. Notes Oregon personal icome is usaully slightly lower then national average. Portland's is is usually higher then national average. Comparing GDP per capita of region to the the national avaerage can show these differences.
2 Prices by statw https://meric.mo.gov/data/cost-living-data-series
3 Retrieved from https://www.opb.org/article/2024/11/01/portland-public-schools-strike-anniversary/.
Table A: NEA Research. 2026. Rankings of the States 2025 and Estimates of School Statistics 2026. (Page 17)
Table A: PPS Teacher Pay Retrieved from https://projects.oregonlive.com/data-points/gov-salaries/pps-2023/pps_salaries_23
Table B: operating budget . Retrieved from https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1789689406/ppsnet/urn2igcmdnlp5lkrjg15/2026-27AdoptedBudget.pdf (Page 88)
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