Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon's largest school district is intending not to take advantage of a new state law that allows public schools to compete more for students.

Rebecca Roberts Galloway / OPB

School zone sign near Alameda Elementary school in NE Portland.

The 2011 "open enrollment" law forces school districts to let students transfer out. Whether or not to accept students is up to districts -- but they have to decide by March 1st, for next school year.

Staff at Portland Public Schools is recommending that the district not let any additional students in. The superintendent's chief of staff, Zeke Smith, says PPS currently adds more students from other districts, than it loses. But Smith acknowledges that could change, if PPS doesn't open up extra slots to other districts, and current PPS students find slots at other districts.

Smith explained, "We'll be monitoring what the impact of this is, but it's also complicated by the fact that any slots you open up in your district, you have to open up internally, first."

Smith notes that the district's internal transfer policy attempts to balance enrollments across dozens of schools.

The recommendation comes before Portland board members Monday night.

On Tuesday, Feb. 28th at 6:30 p.m., OPB is hosting a listening session on budget cuts to education for teachers, parents, administrators, and more. If you have insights or story ideas for our newsroom, we’d love to hear from you. E-mail publicinsight@opb.org for details.