Superintendent Ryan Scallon and Board of Public Education Chair Sarah Lentz issued a statement in response to city voters’ resounding approval June 11 of the Portland Public Schools’ budget for fiscal year 2025.

This year, for the first time, the school budget was presented in a more comprehensive manner, with all revenues and expenses presented, not just those in the local budget. The FY25 school budget totals $161.4 million and is made up of $154 million in local funds and about 7 million in non-local funds.

“We are deeply grateful to Portland voters for approving our school budget for the 2024-2025 school year,” Scallon and Lentz said in a joint statement. “In the face of daunting fiscal challenges, this budget is as responsive as possible to the needs of our students, staff and families, while also keeping in mind the concerns of taxpayers. The budget is grounded in equity, centers students, supports staff, provides additional resources to schools and is aligned to our emerging strategic plan. Thank you to Portland voters for demonstrating once again at the polls the value you place on a quality public education for our City’s children.”

The budget includes strategic funding for increased student mental health, reading support, special education and school climate, as well as increased rigor in the classroom, while maintaining funding for athletics, extracurriculars, and class sizes. This budget also includes sizable reductions and strategic restructuring to address the fiscal shortfall.

The budget was approved by a wide margin. According to unofficial results from the office of the Portland City Clerk on Tuesday, June 11, the vote to validate the budget was 3,464 or 70.1 percent in favor and 1,423 or 28.8 percent opposed.

Learn more about the budget on the FY 2025 Budget page on the PPS website.

The Portland Public Schools is Maine’s largest school district, with more than 6,600 students, and it’s also the most diverse. About one-third of the district’s students come from homes where languages other than English are spoken—a total of 53 languages. Approximately 48 percent of the district’s students are white and 52 percent are students of color. Nearly half of PPS students qualify for free or reduced-price school meals.