Rally Outside School Board Meeting To Protest Budget Cuts

The Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon will stage a rally outside tonight's Portland School Board meeting to protest proposed cuts to Portland Public Schools' budget for teaching English to immigrant and refugee students.

The group is upset that PPS wants to shift about $1 million from its $450 million general-fund budget to pay for 12 new English-as-a-second-language teachers. In order to do that, district leaders say they'll have to cut 23 positions for bilingual educational assistants, a small group of employees that represents a significant portion of PPS's minority educators.

The budget meeting tonight takes place at Madison High School from 7 to 9 pm. APANO supporters will meet beforehand at 6 pm.