Portland school board defers tough budget cuts, pins hopes on Congress saving educator jobs | OregonLive.com

Portland school board defers tough budget cuts, pins hopes on Congress saving educator jobs | OregonLive.com

Portland school board defers tough budget cuts, pins hopes on Congress saving educator jobs

Published: Wednesday, July 07, 2010, 9:15 PM Updated: Wednesday, July 07, 2010, 9:35 PM

Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian
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A united Portland school board on Tuesday directed Superintendent Carole Smith to delay giving out layoff notice to scores of teachers and other school employees.

Smith and board members have said that cutting 180 teaching jobs and laying off teachers is probably necessary to balance the budget for next school year.

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But doing so would also be ugly, painful and bad, in the words of various board members. So the board agreed Tuesday to delay its decision and hope that the U.S. Senate will save teaching jobs.

More specifically, Portland school board members are banking that the Senate will agree with a proposal passed by the House last week to award $10 billion of stimulus money to save educator jobs nationwide.

That would mean about $7 million for Portland Public Schools. The district could then balance its budget by cutting about 50 teaching positions from its 85 schools, not the 125 teaching jobs that Smith has proposed axing, given the recent $19 million cut in state funding.

Under either scenario, the board would cut about 25 central office jobs, 38 positions in special