To: Portland City Council
Support the Portland School Budget
Victory! The creator of this petition declared the campaign a success. You can still sign the petition to show support.
Support the City of Portland Public School budget by voting to increase the school budget by at least 1.2% for the next fiscal year! If we cut the proposed budget, more children in the city will experience what students at Reiche and Riverton faced this year: very large classes with 25 or more students. Support Portland's schools and smaller class sizes by voting in favor of the Board of Education's proposed budget.
Why is this important?
Our kids' education should be our community's top priority. Mountains of academic research show that class size has long-term impacts on student achievement and success, particularly in the early grades and among disadvantaged children. This academic year, some classes at Riverton and Reiche elementary schools suffered large class sizes (25 to 27 students).
Superintendent Emmanuel Caulk has proposed a modest 1.2% increase in the school budget for next year--enough to ensure appropriate class sizes.
The proposed increase is below the federal government's 2015 inflation rate (1.7%) and is just a fraction of the 4-5% increases in school budgets proposed in neighboring districts, such as Falmouth and Yarmouth. Despite this, there are some that are calling for cutting our school budgets. If further cuts are made to the proposed budget, more children in the city will face very large class sizes.
Please support Portland schools and smaller class sizes by voting to increase the school budget by at least 1.2% for next fiscal year.
Superintendent Emmanuel Caulk has proposed a modest 1.2% increase in the school budget for next year--enough to ensure appropriate class sizes.
The proposed increase is below the federal government's 2015 inflation rate (1.7%) and is just a fraction of the 4-5% increases in school budgets proposed in neighboring districts, such as Falmouth and Yarmouth. Despite this, there are some that are calling for cutting our school budgets. If further cuts are made to the proposed budget, more children in the city will face very large class sizes.
Please support Portland schools and smaller class sizes by voting to increase the school budget by at least 1.2% for next fiscal year.