Portland Public Schools Audit Finds Problems, District Agrees

PORTLAND, OR – Secretary of State Dennis Richardson, recognizing that Portland Public Schools, despite having a budget of more than $650 million, only recent hired its first auditor, decided his office to conduct an audit of their own. The results of the year-long probe, released on Wednesday, are critical of the district on several fronts, accusing the district on several fronts from how they handle contracts to how they educate (or don’t) students of color.

“PPS has faced longstanding organizational risks, challenges, and performance issues,” the audit determined. “In recent years, PPS has faced a series of controversies that raised concerns about accountability and decision making in the district.”

While district officials agreed with many of the audits findings, they moved to sidestep some of the criticisms by dismissing the audit overall as a “specific political request by the Secretary of State.”

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The district also referred to the audit as an “additive to other performance and financial auditing the District has already conducted and is planned for the future.”

Among the more serious criticisms that the audit had concerned the district’s long-in-coming response to the problem of lead in the water in many schools in the district as well as the fact that – as a school board-ordered investigation found – officials failed “to take action after years of reports accusing a longtime educator of sexual misconduct.”

• The audit also listed several other areas as “drawing scrutiny:
• Contracts with no competition;
• Rising legal costs;
• Public records availability;
• Inadequate course offerings in schools serving students of color;
• Questions of principal competency;
• Extended paid leave for teachers and administrators; and
• Understated budgets for a $790 million construction bond district voters approved in 2017."

The audit determined that many of the issues led to subpar performance by students of color.

"The district's white students scored higher than comparable students statewide, while African-American, Pacific Islander, and economically disadvantaged students scored lower than students statewide. Latino students scored at the state average,” auditors wrote.

For example, the district has a 53-percent performance gap between white and black students with smaller but still significant gaps between white students and Hispanic students, white students Native American ones.

Auditors also found inequality in how economically disadvantaged students and those aren’t.

The district says while they believe that the auditors did not give them enough credit for work that they’ve accomplished recently – the audit does point out that the district has a relatively new superintendent, new executive staff, and relatively new board – they “welcome the audit and appreciate the audit team’s diligence.

“The team’s recommendations will contribute to our continuous improvement and commitment to improving student outcomes."

Photo of July 2018 meeting of Portland School Board via PPS.