Parents and staff urge Portland school board to preserve elementary maker space, fieldwork and student-facing roles amid FY27 cuts

The Portland Board of Public Education heard nearly three hours of public testimony March 31 during a public hearing on the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, with dozens of parents, teachers and community partners urging the board to restore or protect student-facing positions the administration has proposed to cut.

Brooke Teller, a district science coordinator who worked in Portland Public Schools for 17 years, told the board that the elementary mobile maker space "reaches all 3,000 elementary students every year" and warned that eliminating the position would remove the district's primary vehicle for elementary STEM access while a new science curriculum is still rolling out. "Cutting this position eliminates the district's primary vehicle for elementary STEM access," she said.

Multiple speakers described the same concern about proposed cuts to the "experiential and outdoor learning coordinator," a role they said is central to the district's Wabanaki studies fieldwork. "Without fieldwork, Wabanaki people for students without connections to those communities remain an abstraction," said Fiona Hopper, the district's social-studies special projects coordinator, recounting the seven-year collaboration with Wabanaki advisers that produced the curriculum and a standing agreement to provide place‑based fieldwork.

Nonprofit partners stressed the operational role those positions play. Jane Affleck Fitz of Maine Audubon said the outdoor-learning coordinator organizes buses, gear, porta‑potties and risk plans for district-wide fieldwork that serves every K–4 student in multi-day rotations. "The outdoor‑learning coordinator is paramount in making sure this happens," she said.

Other speakers pressed the board to keep counseling and social‑work positions at high schools and Dearing High School in particular, saying reductions would cut supports for students facing homelessness, English‑learner needs and special education. A number of PHS counselors, social workers and school leaders described how cuts would eliminate a dedicated ninth‑grade counselor and disrupt junior and senior planning programs that help with college and career planning.

Several commenters proposed trade-offs and budget alternatives. Anthony King, a Portland High teacher, suggested increasing the vacancy rate assumption as a short‑term way to free up millions in the district budget, and several speakers encouraged the board and community to press state bills (LD2226 and LD1892) that could change school funding and construction funding formulas.

Superintendent Scallan told the board the district faces a $4.1 million cut in state funding and declining enrollment, and that every option carries trade-offs: "There are absolutely no easy decisions in this process. Every line in the budget represents real impacts on students, staff, families, and our broader community," he said during the meeting.

What happens next: the finance committee's March 23 amendments included a $400,000 central‑office reduction, a reduced vacancy‑rate assumption and the restoration of a social‑work position at Dearing. Board members will consider further amendments before the board's April 14 second reading and vote on the budget; the board and staff warned that some assumed savings (notably a proposed $250,000 saving from closing the central office building) depend on whether the city moves forward as a partner and therefore may not be realized immediately.

Board members said they would weigh whether to restore specific roles — including the mobile maker space teacher and the experiential learning coordinator — balancing the district's long‑term commitments to Wabanaki studies and elementary STEM access against near‑term fiscal constraints.