{"id":16185,"date":"2026-04-20T11:54:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=16185"},"modified":"2026-04-05T17:00:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T00:00:39","slug":"when-your-school-system-is-so-bad-20-of-people-pull-their-kids-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=16185","title":{"rendered":"When your school system is so bad 20% of people pull their kids out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s a big open secret that Portland and Oregon Public Schools are some of the worst in the country – last year ranking 45th out of 50 states<\/a>. Ranking well behind every southern state, Texas, Mississippi, Florida, and well – just about everybody. This isn’t because of funding that ranks as some of the highest per student in the country nor from a lack of complete Democratic party control over all levels of the government for more than 30 years. It has some of the highest funding per student, while delivering some of the worst results in the entire country<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Covid over 12% of students have been pulled from declining and failing Portland schools and it is projected that it will likely reach more than a 24% attendance drop. Public school enrollment in Oregon dropped by more than 22,000 after COVID-19 and continues to decline<\/a>. But that hasn’t stopped the school system from adding almost 12,000 new employees – even while enrollments were dramatically declining<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s reached the point Portland schools will be closed soon<\/a> – up 5 of the 10 district schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the school year has been chopped to one of the shortest in history as teachers take furlough days<\/a>. I mean, where could all this money be going when the Portland school district has a communications department that costs as much as an entire high school<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This all despite passing multiple bonds at or over a billion dollars, they have failed to modernize nor make schools earthquake safe as they have promised with each of the last 4 bond measures over the last decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n