savings in the areas of data and word
processing, student transportation
and food services.
Performance evaluations and justi­
fications of ex p en d itu res before
specialized citizen budget-review
committees also have made the school
district more responsive and efficient
in its day-to-day operations.
FINANCE
PROGRESS TOWARD GOALS
ACHIEVEMENT
Improving student achievement
Portland Public Schools students
in all grade levels are making increas­
ingly rapid progress through a bal­
anced, well-designed curricula.
Today its students are typically
half a grade to one grade ahead of
where students were six years ago.
For example, this year’s third-graders
have mastered as much of the m athe­
matics curriculum as fourth-graders
had six years ago.
In your opinion. do you fed the
Portland Public Schools are providing basic skills to children'*
The most impressive achievement
increases recently have been in
m athem atics, p articularly at the
lower grades.
For instance, the percent of stu­
dents in Grade 5 m aking satisfactory
mathematics progress toward grad­
uation has gone from 67.4 percent in
the spring of 1981 to 82.4 percent in
the spring of 1987, a gain of 15
percent.
But achievement goals are set for
all students and until all students are
achieving satisfactorily, the Portland
School D istrict will co n tinue to
develop programs and provide individ­
ualized instruction and other special
support for low-achieving students.
M any more Portland elementary
schools now are served by counselors
and child-developm ent specialists
providing early attention to potential
behavior and learning problems.
Just as students in Portland overall
outperform their peers nationwide in
academic achievement, so do our
minority students.
The general trend in districtwide
basic-skills achievement scores has
been upward during the past six
years since the Portland Board of
Education rededicated the school
district to its central mission of educa­
tional effectiveness.
During that period of growth and
renewal the rates of gain for minority
students often have been as great or
greater than the rates of gain of
n o n m in o rity stu d en ts. T h a t has
resulted in a progressive reduction in
the differences between minority and
nonm inority student scores.
A dram atic indicator of the pro­
gress in m inority-student achieve­
m ent is that the percentage of black
seniors passing the Portland School
D is tr ic t’s rig o ro u s g ra d u a tio n -
standards tests of basic skills has
risen from 71.2 percent in 1984 to
91.1 percent in 1987, almost a 20
percent gain in just three years.
MANAGEMENT
Improving school district planning
and operation
Establishing one- and five-year
plans and goals have been routine
tasks at all levels in Portland Public
Schools during the past four years.
Also routine has been accomplish­
ing m ore with 11 percent fewer
administrative employees.
T h at’s a rem arkable achievement
by itself, especially since the school
district’s enrollment has been rising
steadily during that time.
But th e re are m o re c o n crete
examples of getting better services
from available dollars:
Maintenance of the school district’s
aging physical plant — most schools
are more than 60 years old — has
embraced advances in computers
and technology and saved millions
of dollars.
Com puterized systems also have
generated m illions o f d o llars in
M aintaining adequate and
stable funding
Since voters last approved a tax-
base increase, in 1982, the school
district has trim m ed m illions of
dollars from the real cost of its
administrative operations.
And those dollars — representing
an annual one percent reduction
m andated by the school board and
generated through improved efficien­
cies — have provided funds for
expanding instructional program s
such as summ er school and the drug-
and-alcohol and talented-and-gifted
programs.
F urtherm ore, those efficiencies
provided a 1987-88 general-fund
budget even lower than 1985-86 and
allowed the school district to anti­
cipate operating within its 1982 tax
base through 1989-90. T h at’s four
years m ore th an forecasted and
promised in 1982.
And, as frosting on the fiscal cake,
the efficiencies have produced unan­
ticipated resources for improving the
school district’s aging physical plant
and for retiring bonded indebted­
ness.
To ensure cost-efficiencies, future
departm ental budgets must justify
increases for inflation as well as
other factors.
Furtherm ore, as an amendm ent
to the m andated one percent annual
redirection of central expenditures
to instructional program s, there can
be no net growth except for inflation
in e x p e n d itu re s fo r g o o d s and
services.
COMMUNITY
Increasing community confidence
R e d u c in g s c h o o l d r o p o u ts ,
increasing youths’ employment skills
and providing increased access to
jobs — especially for low-income
and minority students.
Heavy goals to tackle. But im por­
tant goals for the Portland School
District and its community.
Portland Public Schools’ partici­
pation with local business, govern­
ment and education leaders in the
P o rtla n d In v estm en t — a plan
designed to achieve those goals — is
one of many areas where the school
district and its com m unities are
working together toward comm on
goals.
The school district recognizes that
schools and local businesses in the
future will increasingly share equip­
ment and training responsibilities.
A lready business and industry
participate in partnerships — ranging
from middle-school career fairs to
cooperative work-experience pro ­
grams for high school students —
that promote improved relationships
between schools and their com m u­
nities.
Com m unity support of Portland
Public Schools, shown in the approv­
al of the school district’s newest tax
base in 1982, benefits both students
and the local economy.
Last year the Portland School
District bought more than $25 million
in products and services from 1,000
local businesses. Portland Public
Schools deposited $350 million in
local banks and each m onth made a
payroll totaling $14 million. That
meant approxim ately $8.75 million
in take-home pay for some 6,500
employees.
Portland Public Schools reaches
out to the community through exten­
sive networks of community advisory
committees, parent teacher organiza­
tions, vocational task forces, the
V olunteers in P o rtla n d Schools
(VIPS) program and other areas.