Portland-area teachers took their fight straight to Salem this week, hand-delivering a petition to Gov. Tina Kotek that urges her to declare a state of emergency in public education and unlock emergency dollars as the Reynolds School District warns of sweeping cuts. The district’s proposed 2026-27 budget shows roughly a $20 million shortfall and the loss of about 158 full-time equivalent positions, reductions union leaders say would gut music and sports, thin out student supports and leave already crowded classrooms even more stretched.
As reported by KOIN, members of the Reynolds Education Association showed up at the governor’s office asking for immediate access to the state’s Education Stability Fund. Union officials say more than 300 licensed educators signed the petition and warn that the proposed cuts reach across the system, from building administrators and special education teachers to specialists, campus monitors, educational assistants, school counselors and social workers.
District Budget Lays Out The Cuts
The Reynolds School District’s proposed budget, posted April 30, walks through the numbers: about a $20 million reduction in general-fund spending, preliminary cuts estimated to save roughly $17.6 million, and a net staffing change of -158 FTE. The document lists reductions across elementary, middle and high school programs, including discontinuing middle-school wrestling and cross-country, sharing elementary music and PE specialists at smaller schools, and ending Senior Inquiry and JROTC at Reynolds High. Reynolds School District publishes the full budget packet and calendar for the process.
Union Reaction And On-The-Record Concerns
Jeffrey Fuller, president of the Reynolds Education Association and a social-studies teacher at Reynolds High, has warned that repeated budget holes and midyear patches are wearing down classrooms. In written testimony to the Oregon State Board of Education, he argued that the current approach is already harming students. “The focus on quantity of minutes over quality is mandating cuts to staffing that will hurt student outcomes as it will become even more difficult to meet their needs,” he wrote, as reported by OPB. The union told KOIN this latest round amounts to a third consecutive year in which inadequate state funding and the existing funding formula have forced painful cuts.
State Reserve Could Blunt Pain If It Is Tapped
Teachers and advocates are pushing Gov. Kotek to open the door to the Education Stability Fund, a lottery-backed reserve that recent forecasts estimate at roughly $1.2 billion, arguing it is exactly what the money is for: preventing immediate layoffs and program losses. So far, though, Gov. Kotek and some key lawmakers have signaled they do not want to dip into reserves this year, and local coverage has highlighted resistance to a one-off education bailout outside the usual budget cycle, according to Willamette Week.
How The Education Stability Fund Works
The fine print matters here. State budget documents and economic forecasts explain that the Education Stability Fund is built from lottery proceeds and controlled by a set of triggers and statutes that limit when its principal can be used. The Oregon Office of Economic Analysis lays out the fund’s balance and the conditions for releasing money, including rules and vote thresholds that help explain why turning to the reserve is both politically sensitive and procedurally complicated. The Oregon Office of Economic Analysis projects the ESF balance and details the mechanics for tapping the reserve.
What Happens Next
The Reynolds budget notes that the district’s human resources staff will meet with the Reynolds Education Association and the Oregon School Employees Association to review seniority and bumping rules under their contracts, and that any reductions in force would take effect June 30 or the last workday of the school year. That leaves a narrow window for any fix from Salem. The union says it will keep pressing state leaders while families and students prepare for program cuts in the fall if emergency funds remain off limits.
The petition lands in the middle of a broader statewide squeeze as Oregon districts juggle flat or declining enrollment, rising costs and little new revenue. Whether the governor and Legislature treat education as a bona fide emergency this spring will decide whether programs and staff in Reynolds, and in districts facing similar math, are protected or pared back.
