Hear What Our Community Has to Say

“The current fundraising system perpetuates a deeply problematic model of charity where wealthier schools have control over if and how they share their resources. As parents we want fundraising to be guided by principles of solidarity, not charity, where all school communities have agency and dignity as part of a united and collaborative district.”

Magali Rabasa, Rigler PTA President, in testimony before the PPS Policy Committee on 6/22/22

"The grants from the Fund for PPS don't even scratch the surfaces of those schools needs and increasing the percentage of wealthy schools contributions won't change that... Charity does not equal equity. There is no dignity in being handed a small cut of a wealthier school's funds."

Denequa Jameelah Rasheed, parent at Roosevelt High School, in testimony before the PPS Policy Committee on 6/22/22

“When we allow schools to pay for positions that not all schools are afforded those with resources continue to reach heights that are unattainable for others. We cannot continue to have this be the case in public schools.”

Maya von Geldern, Vernon PTA President, in testimony before the PPS Policy Committee on 6/22/22

“Some Scott staff members have expressed concerns about sharing their opinions on this topic, because they are afraid of how it will impact our school. They agreed that it is an overall inequitable practice but this must be balanced with what it could mean for our students, especially those that continue to be underserved. This fear is exactly why reform needs to occur so our teachers, staff and administrators don't have to rely on the charity of wealthy schools to provide our students with their basic needs, while most of the money raised continues to provide for those who are already provided for.”

Celeste Grover, Scott Elementary School PTA President, in testimony before the PPS Policy Committee on 6/22/22

“There is a strong interest in shifting to a district-wide fundraising effort through The Fund for PPS and decreasing school-based fundraising, particularly for staffing and other essential services that should be provided through publicly-funded education.”

Summary finding by PPS Strategic Partnerships Department, from McDaniel Cluster Targeted Community Engagement June 2022

“Fundraising capabilities are very school specific. The fundraising activities take up a significant amount of family volunteering time and effort, which limits family participation in other social activities or engagement in other sociopolitical change movements. Site specific fundraising activities promote a “me” (my school, my class, my student) vs. a “we” (our district, our city) mentality.”

PPS Administrator, Administrator Survey June 2022

“All children are "ours" and we must stop having schools act like charities in order to serve them equitably. When public schools become mini private schools because the families are paying for staff, computers, security systems, playground equipment, etc., it undermines the very idea of public schooling.”

PPS Administrator, Administrator Survey June 2022

“The schools with the money get the money, their students get the benefits, and the schools with low economic demographics, underserved racial groups, get very little money and it feels like that’s just the way it is.”

“It doesn’t redistribute money in the community in a way that is significantly impactful. It’s maybe slightly less inequitable. But it’s still inequitable.”

Interview participants from a non-fundraising PPS school, for “The Influence of a Public School Fundraising Equity Policy: Investigating Financial Impacts and Parent Perceptions” by Dr. Beth Cavanaugh

“A nice idea, I get the intent, but it just feels, it feels super lip-servicey. It feels like a way for schools to be like, ‘Look, we’re contributing to these less fortunate schools,’ but it is still putting White kids on top.”

“If you’re at a homogenous school where it’s already a wealthy community, and so you have kids coming in equipped with some of the things they need to begin with, those are not necessarily the schools that need more staff. And yet those are the schools that are being able to buy more staff and that’s, it just feels very, very wrong.”

Interview participants from a fundraising PPS school, for “The Influence of a Public School Fundraising Equity Policy: Investigating Financial Impacts and Parent Perceptions” by Dr. Beth Cavanaugh

"PPS’s current foundation policy has been an obstacle to closing achievement gaps by allowing our school community members to operate in silos of concern and forgo their civic duty to demand adequate funding for all public schools. This is why the PPS Board policy committee must take immediate action to reform PPS policy 7.10.030-P District Foundation, which allows private funding of teachers and staff. We believe that parent and caregiver involvement is a valuable asset to all schools and should not be discouraged, but allowing fundraising to buy teachers is in direct opposition to PPS’s Racial Educational Equity Policy goal “to provide every student with equitable access to high quality and culturally relevant instruction, curriculum, support, facilities and other educational resources, even when this means differentiating resources to accomplish this goal.”

Letter to the PPS Board from school group leaders at 32 PPS schools submitted 5/10/2021

"Some may argue that Title I schools technically receive more money per student but this can not be a justification for Foundations. A child at a Title I school has a world of other barriers and obstacles that are not offset by the district's allocation of funds."

Justin Godoy, 5th grade teacher at Rigler Elementary, in testimony before the PPS Policy Committee on 2/25/21

"I'm an alumni of PPS schools and an educator in PPS for 15 years. I've worked in schools on both ends of the spectrum created by this deeply inequitable system. I'm also a mother to a future PPS student. She, and all students in PPS, deserve fully funded schools regardless of their race or address. Reform is years overdue."

- PPS Educator, parent and signer of the petition calling for reform

"I have seen the difference a foundation makes in schools such as Llewellyn and Cleveland, where my husband works and where my children have attended. Working as a SUN Site Manager at a lower income school without a foundation, the inequity is blatantly obvious."

- SUN Site Manager, parent at Llewellyn Elementary and Cleveland High School and signer of the petition calling for reform

"The system of public education should not be something that can be manipulated by more resourced families, predominantly white, to provide resources to children at one school that another school cannot afford to provide."

- Signer of the petition calling for reform

"We can't just talk about equity -- we have to transform our systems and live by it. Finances absolutely show where our values lie."

Signer of the petition calling for reform

"CBRC is concerned that the district’s focus on equity may be undermined by the lack of transparency and accountability for independent school foundations. Many schools with independent school foundations are raising significant revenue to further enhance learning experiences and opportunities at their already enriched schools. The impact, unintended or not, is that opportunity and achievement gaps between students attending schools in wealthier communities and their less-affluent counterparts are exacerbated despite the district's efforts to level the playing field."

PPS Community Budget Review Committee (CBRC) 2019 Report

"Independent school foundations are designed to expand resources within the District. However, the current funding model exacerbates inequities across the District. The highest fundraising schools are typically schools in higher income/higher wealth neighborhoods. Sharing one‐third of the funds, above $10,000 across the District does not ensure equity because the current redistribution is still so heavily skewed toward the fundraising school. We direct the Board to make the distribution of foundation funds more equitable and eliminate fundraising loopholes.”

PPS Community Budget Review Committee (CBRC) 2018 Report

“Smith said she would block foundations from backfilling the estimated 60 PE jobs to be eliminated. That’s to avoid situations where wealthy schools get PE back while poor schools don’t.”

Carole Smith, former Portland Public Schools Superintendent as reported by Willamette Week in 2010