Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Portland Schools Foundation announced changes Monday designed to give schools that serve low-income students higher priority in grant funding. The decision means wealthier schools will have to depend more on money they raise on their own - and less on grant money from the central foundation.

The district-wide school foundation collects roughly one-third of the money that local foundations raise around the Portland school district. It used to distribute that money through competitive grants.

But foundation head, Dan Ryan, says that didn't work well for some schools - so the foundation will spend instead based on school demographics and lack of funding.

Dan Ryan: “So, we’ll be looking at the poverty level, the race demographics, and the amount of English Language Learners in a school - and on the other side, we’ll be looking at the amount that the school foundation actually raises, the amount that they keep.”

The Foundation will also factor in money spent by the federal government on low-income schools. But wealthier schools will generally be disqualified from getting foundation money - beyond what they raise themselves.

Ryan is also removing restrictions placed on money sent out by the foundation.

Principals will now be able to spend that money to hire or retain staff, just as administrators at wealthier schools can with locally raised funds.