Announcing the launch of Champion PPS Schools! In the 2024-25 school year The Fund for PPS is launching the new districtwide model for fundraising for staffing. We’re branding it Champion PPS Schools. This is the only method to donate towards additional PPS staff positions (also commonly referred to as FTE/Full-Time Equivalent). Dollars raised for Champion PPS Schools will be allocated districtwide through a formula developed by the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC): Distribution of Donations for Staffing and approved by the PPS Board of Education. For more information, please visit the committee's webpage on pps.net.

Background of Local School Foundations and PPS Parent Fund

The 2024-25 school year is the last year that Local School Foundation and PPS Parent Fund dollars will be utilized by individual schools for staff and programming tied to their School Improvement Plan. Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, donations will be distributed through the new districtwide model. Below is some historical background and context for full transparency.

In 1994-95, on the heels of Measure 5’s cuts to public education, parents from a number of Portland schools asked the Portland Public Schools Board of Education to allow them to create a vehicle for raising private dollars to support teaching and staff positions at their schools. The School Board allowed for the creation of “local school foundations” at all of Portland’s public schools. The School Board also required that an “Equity Fund” be established. One-third of all funds raised (after the first $10,000) by Local School Foundations was set aside in the PPS Parent Fund that the former Portland Schools Foundation/All Hands Raised, and subsequently, The Fund for PPS, stewarded and distributed to high-need schools using demographic data.

Click on the link below to view how much each Local School Foundation raised to pay for staffing and how much they contributed to the PPS Parent Fund: