Finance committee forwards Portland Public Schools $171.8 million FY2026 budget to full council

Portland’s Finance Committee voted April 29 to send Portland Public Schools’ proposed fiscal year 2026 budget to the full City Council for consideration.

The committee advanced the district’s recommended $171,800,000 budget — about $162 million on the local side — following a public hearing and remarks by Superintendent Scallon and board members. Superintendent Scallon told the committee the draft is $28,000 higher than the version presented in March and includes all district revenue, not only local funds.

Why it matters: The proposal would raise the school portion of property tax rates by 5.33 percent, equal to about 42 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, and includes targeted investments intended to support special education, multilingual services, elementary literacy, adult education and music at high schools. Committee approval is time-sensitive because the council is scheduled for the district budget’s first reading on Monday and a final vote later in May.

The budget document presented to the committee shows several drivers of higher costs. Salary expense is budgeted to increase by just under 5 percent (about $6 million) from FY2025 to FY2026. Medical benefits are projected to rise by 7.4 percent (about $1.6 million), inflation on purchasing is estimated at $800,000, and debt service is up roughly $480,000. The district also recorded an estimated cost of $505,000 for Maine’s Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML). Superintendent Scallon said those increases were largely absorbed so that the net additional dollar change from the March draft is only about $28,000.

The proposed budget includes specific program investments: additional reading specialists and a kindergarten literacy pilot at Title I schools; continuing targeted support and staffing for students with individualized education programs (IEPs) following an external special education audit; planned investment in multilingual supports and an external review of multilingual services next year; and increased staffing and capacity-building for early childhood special education as the state shifts responsibility for 3- and 4-year-old services to districts. Scallon also highlighted adult education, which serves more than 2,000 students and has a waitlist of about 1,000, as a targeted investment area.

The district plans to add music teachers at Portland and Deering high schools but noted that even with the additions each school would still have only two music teachers serving more than 800 students, a staffing level the superintendent described as “still really pretty small.” Scallon said the budget aligns spending to the district’s five strategic priorities: equity, achievement, whole student supports, staff investment and systems improvement.

Public comment at the hearing included Steven Sharp of Brackett Street, who questioned rising costs amid declining enrollment, saying, “If you have a hundred less kids in the system, you should be able to account for cost reduction of a hundred less kids.” The superintendent and committee members responded with explanations about fixed and programmatic costs, state funding formulas and how enrollment declines do not always permit one-for-one staff reductions.

Committee discussion touched on special education investments, data systems, related-service staffing (occupational, physical and speech therapy, and behavior analysts), and the district’s ongoing work to define responsibilities and cost-sharing with the city through a forthcoming memorandum of understanding (MOU). Council members asked for clarification on how the special education audit’s findings map to the budget; Scallon described investments in central office oversight, programmatic changes and case-level data systems to track IEP outcomes.

Funding details and one-time uses: Scallon told the committee the district plans to draw down certain fund balances for specific uses. He said K–12 will use about $3,900,000 in fund balance for FY2026 items (food service spenddown and one-time equipment and training for a shift toward scratch cooking, plus small uses in adult education). He also said the district identified savings that limited the net increase to the March draft to about $28,000 despite higher benefits and calendar costs (the district added district holidays for Eid and Yom Kippur).

Action and next steps: Councilor Grant moved to recommend the school budget to the full City Council; Councilor Pelletier seconded. The committee recorded three affirmative votes: Councilor Grant — yes; Councilor Pelletier — yes; Chair Bridal — yes. The recommendation will move to the full City Council for a scheduled first reading and later a final vote.

The committee and superintendent also discussed the need to clarify the division of responsibilities between the district and the city for facilities and playgrounds via the MOU so citizens know which entity to contact for maintenance and repairs. Scallon said the district and city staff have been working on that alignment.

The Finance Committee closing remarks thanked district leadership and staff for the work on a complex budget and for addressing questions about enrollment and service levels. The committee will return the recommended budget to the full council for its first reading and subsequent final vote.