By Tommy Thompson, Education Correspondent — August 20, 2025

PORTLAND, Ore. — In the span of eight weeks, Portland Public Schools (PPS) has launched a new school year with a call to urgency from its superintendent, navigated the state’s aggressive push for “bell-to-bell” cellphone restrictions, braced for a late-summer heat wave, watched fresh enrollment projections tick downward, and seen a public charter relocate on the eve of classes amid heightened tensions near a federal immigration facility. It’s a lot to happen in a short time. It’s also a vivid snapshot of the pressures—and possibilities—shaping Oregon’s largest district as students return on Tuesday, August 26. 

What follows is a ground-level look at what changed, what didn’t, and what’s about to matter most for families, students, and educators across Portland.

A year launches with urgency

On August 6, Superintendent Dr. Kimberlee Armstrong opened PPS’s 2025–26 school year in a keynote address that mixed urgency with optimism. Speaking to more than a thousand educators, staff, and community leaders gathered at Benson High School—including PPS board directors, elected officials and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick—Armstrong framed the district’s path forward around four priorities in its Continuous Improvement Plan: early literacy, middle-grade math, attendance and enrollment, and on-time graduation. The message: clear goals, data-informed strategies, and “prioritizing the humanity of students” must coexist. 

That tone matters because the district is approaching fall with multiple big swings in motion—some self-initiated, others mandated from Salem. And it’s doing so against the backdrop of tight budgets, aging buildings, and a volatile enrollment picture.

The phone in your pocket is not for class: Oregon’s “bell-to-bell” mandate arrives

If there’s one policy students will feel immediately, it’s the phone rule. While PPS voted back in January to adopt a districtwide policy limiting student cellphone use, the scope and speed of enforcement accelerated this summer after Gov. Tina Kotek issued an executive order requiring all 197 Oregon districts to adopt “bell-to-bell” restrictions by October 31, 2025, and to have them fully operational by January 1, 2026. 

PPS’s rollout is not without friction. As Willamette Week reported last week, some board members have pressed district leaders for clearer disciplinary guidelines and more consistent school-level implementation plans; others want assurance that equity and special education needs are central to campus rules. Meanwhile, some PPS campuses—particularly high schools—are expanding their use of locking pouches like Yondr or piloting routines where devices are powered down and stored out of reach from first bell to last. 

Even with a state order, the final mile of culture change always lands at the classroom door. The challenge will be less about what’s on paper and more about how each school communicates expectations, trains staff, handles exceptions, and partners with families—especially for students who rely on devices for translation, health-related alerts, or assistive technology. The state timeline leaves little room for drift: written plans by Halloween; the new normal by New Year’s Day. 

Enrollment: the numbers that drive everything else

Budget math in Oregon follows enrollment. And the latest Population Research Center forecast from Portland State University delivered a bracing update this month: PPS’s student count is projected to keep falling through at least 2034–35, with a sharper drop than previously expected. The new analysis points to two compounding forces: fewer young children in the region overall, and a lower “capture rate”—the share of eligible kindergarteners who actually enroll in PPS classrooms. The 2024 kindergarten capture rate was about 71%, well below the district’s pre-2013 highs. 

A week later, Willamette Week underscored the long arc of that shift with a stark comparison: in 2015, demographers expected PPS to enroll about 55,000 students by the 2028–29 school year; the latest forecast now pegs that year at 39,945, a roughly 27% swing. The implication is not merely statistical; it’s operational. Fewer students mean fewer dollars for staffing and programs, and potentially more pressure to consolidate or reconfigure schools. 

To its credit, PPS isn’t ignoring the trend. The board revived a committee on teaching, learning and enrollment to keep the issue in focus this year, and the central office has rolled out a recruitment campaign aimed at early grades. But the district will be juggling that work alongside deadlines to implement the cellphone policy, stabilize budgets, and deliver learning results that help persuade families to stay. 

The $40 million question: budgets, reductions and a “fiscal cliff”

None of this happens in a vacuum. PPS has spent the spring and summer mapping cuts and consolidations to close a $40 million shortfall for 2025–26—on top of prior-year reductions. The district’s budget portal puts it plainly: “an additional $40 million in reductions is needed.” Superintendent Armstrong, in April, described a “sobering fiscal cliff” ahead without new revenue, even after using one-time measures to soften this year’s blow. News coverage at the time sketched out proposed eliminations of more than 240 positions, including about 157 school-based roles, reflecting both rising costs and the enrollment slide. 

As fall begins, PPS board calendars show regular meetings and committee sessions continuing through August to guide implementation and oversight. The big policy fights—the ones that require tradeoffs between class size, program breadth, and central services—are no longer abstractions. They are the schedule a student receives, the specialist a school can’t hire, the planning period a teacher loses, the elective that disappears. 

For families, the practical advice is simple but hard: read the principal newsletters, scrutinize course catalogs, and ask early about supports. In a tight budget year, the first weeks of school are where unmet needs surface—and where creative problem-solving (PTA mini-grants, community partnerships, schedule swaps) can still make a difference.

Heat, air and buildings: August reminds everyone that climate is now

Portland’s latest extreme heat advisory in mid-August, with triple-digit forecasts in some parts of Oregon, arrived before most PPS students set foot in class. But the timing still mattered: Multnomah County opened cooling shelters, and districts across the region re-upped public guidance for managing high temperatures. PPS’s Heat Management page outlines building operations on hot days and shares health resources; last school year, similar conditions triggered early releases when classrooms became uncomfortable or unsafe. 

No single heat wave proves a trend. But the pattern is familiar: aging facilities, uneven ventilation and cooling, and increasingly frequent bouts of extreme weather. For a district that must stretch capital dollars across seismic work, modernization, and basic repairs, heat adds another urgent line item. Parents have a role here too: make sure students arrive with refillable water bottles, and nudge schools to set up shade and hydration stations during after-school activities when temperatures spike. 

Immigration, safety and a charter’s abrupt move

Safety inside and around schools drew fresh attention this month when The Cottonwood School of Civics and Science, a publicly funded K-8 charter in South Portland, decided to relocate on short notice, citing repeated protests outside a nearby U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility that had led to crowd-control munitions and chemical irritants on or near campus. The move landed just weeks before the start of classes and followed a summer of petition-driven pressure on city officials over the ICE site’s permits. 

Cottonwood’s situation highlights a broader reality for PPS families this year: the federal rollback of “sensitive locations” guidance has left schools nationwide preparing for potential interactions with immigration agents, even as many big-city districts—including Portland—reaffirm that they won’t assist ICE without a judicial order and will protect student data under FERPA. PPS adopted and publicized those parameters earlier this year and maintains resources for staff and families on immigrant rights. The climate is tense, but the rules are clear: verify court authority, limit access, and protect privacy. 

It’s also a reminder that charter schools inside PPS boundaries operate in varied governance structures. Cottonwood is state-sponsored, not chartered by PPS, though the district interacts with state charters on special education and operational issues and lists them within its broader “multiple pathways” landscape. That nuance matters when families ask where accountability sits and what the district can or cannot compel a charter to do. 

Back-to-school logistics: calendars, routes and “Safe Routes” reminders

Three nuts-and-bolts items for the next two weeks:

First day: PPS lists Tuesday, August 26 as the return date for most students, with secondary grade-level “jump start” variations in some schools. Families should check school pages and principal notes for specifics on grade-staggered starts.  Board meetings & oversight: The School Board met August 5 and has continued its regular cadence of public sessions; October will be a critical checkpoint for the phone policy deadline. Live streams and agendas are posted on PPS’s website and YouTube channel.  Getting to school: The city is nudging families toward walking, biking, and carpooling where possible to reduce traffic at drop-off and pick-up; PBOT’s August Safe Routes to School newsletter includes tips and bike-bus links. 

Transportation remains a perennial headache in many districts, from driver shortages to construction detours. PPS maintains a central route and stop portal through ParentVUE. If you don’t see your assignment, call now—before the first bell. 

What’s happening inside classrooms: the academic core

Armstrong’s kickoff emphasized four pillars that will show up in classroom life almost immediately:

Early literacy: Expect to see explicit, structured reading instruction in primary grades, with coaches and intervention blocks targeted by assessment data. The district has telegraphed gains in fourth-grade reading at some schools based on preliminary state assessment glimpses—results that will be publicly released this fall.  Middle-grade math: Look for tighter unit pacing, more emphasis on conceptual understanding and problem-solving, and targeted tutoring for students who missed key pre-algebra foundations during the pandemic years. (If your sixth- or seventh-grader seems to be reviewing fraction operations and ratio reasoning in September, that’s not a detour; it’s the on-ramp.) Attendance and engagement: With chronic absenteeism still a statewide challenge, schools are setting up homeroom-level monitoring, early family outreach when patterns emerge, and low-friction supports (bus passes, after-school clubs) that make it easier to show up—and want to keep showing up. On-time graduation: High schools are tightening counseling caseloads and credit audits heading into fall, looking harder at ninth-grade course loads to avoid early “F”s that derail trajectories. Families of seniors should expect early checks on capstone, CTE pathway completion, and alternative credit options.

The ingredients are there. The constraints—staffing, time, and money—are real.

Culture change is daily work: making the phone rules stick (without breaking trust)

No single policy sparked more debate in end-of-summer back-to-school nights than phones. The goals are straightforward: reduce distraction, improve focus, curb social-media conflict, and prod students back into face-to-face interaction. The how is the hard part.

Consistency across classrooms and periods will matter more than slogans. A “no phones out” rule in 1st period that softens in 3rd period creates confusion and arguments in 4th. Clear exceptions build credibility. Students who use devices for translation, diabetes monitoring, or other documented needs shouldn’t have to re-negotiate access with every substitute. Family communication plans help; students don’t need phones during class to feel safe. Schools can publish direct office lines for urgent messages and establish expectations for after-school check-ins. Restore and reconnect beats “confiscate and escalate.” The best classroom routines put the device out of reach and out of mind before problems start; if a phone surfaces mid-class, neutral scripts and predictable consequences avert power struggles.

PPS’s challenge will be to apply the state’s order with consistency and a student-support lens—especially while budget strain can make comprehensive supervision tougher. The statewide order provides the floor; Portland’s culture will set the ceiling. 

Facilities, safety and the long tail of capital needs

The summer also kept attention on facilities—from heat readiness to seismic risk. Parent advocates citywide continue to push for earthquake safety upgrades in older buildings, a drumbeat that intensified during spring bond discussions and that is unlikely to fade as new enrollment data force harder choices about which sites to modernize, consolidate, or retrofit first. Oversight bodies like the Bond Accountability Committee and board work sessions will be back in full swing as school starts, parsing invoices and timelines—and, inevitably, tradeoffs. 

Meanwhile, Security & Emergency Management staff continue routine preparation for the school year—refreshing lockdown, evacuation and reunification protocols and aligning with city partners. On paper, the district’s stance on immigration-related encounters is crisp; in practice, the Cottonwood move shows how neighborhood dynamics can still set the agenda. 

Community muscle: Project Community Care and the power of small wins

If giant system problems can feel abstract, Project Community Care remains PPS’s antidote: a twice-yearly volunteer blitz in August (and again in spring) where families and neighbors swarm campuses to weed, pick up litter, spread mulch, and get playgrounds back in shape. It’s not glamorous work. It is community, and it’s one of the fastest ways to reclaim a sense of shared ownership over schools that can otherwise feel like someone else’s office building. 

In a tight budget year, those “small wins” stack up: a trimmed hedge that restores a sightline at student pick-up; fresh bark chips that lower fall-injury risk; a repainted foursquare court that coaxes kids outside at recess. When the headlines are about deficits and mandates, a Saturday’s worth of sweat equity can remind everyone why they’re in this together.

The near horizon: five dates and decisions to watch

Aug. 26: First day for most PPS students. Watch how schools handle “device-free” expectations in homerooms and advisory on day one.  Late Aug.–Sept.: Campus-level phone policy briefings and family town halls. Expect school newsletters to detail enforcement steps, exceptions, and where to get help.  September: Heat (and then smoke) season. PPS operations will continue pushing heat-day protocols; families should keep an eye on AQI and hydration reminders.  October 31: State deadline for written cellphone policies at each school. It’s a paperwork milestone, but it will force schools to show their homework on discipline and equity accommodations.  January 1, 2026: Full implementation of “bell-to-bell” device restrictions. This is when the state expects the practice to match the policy. 

What these eight weeks tell us about the year ahead

If you zoom out, the last two months are a microcosm of the district’s core tension: PPS has to perform while it reforms—deliver daily teaching and safety in buildings built for another era, hold firm on new behavior and device norms, and still convince families that the district is the best choice for their kids in a region where options have multiplied.

The cellphone policy is a test case. If PPS pulls it off with empathy and consistency, teachers will get time back, climate will improve, and students will rediscover idle minutes as human ones. If implementation is scattershot, the order will become just another adult argument students learn to navigate around. 

The enrollment slide is the structural challenge. The latest forecasts tell Portland a blunt story about demographics and family choices; they also leave room for agency. Capture rates can recover if early literacy surges, middle school becomes a magnet rather than a sieve, and high schools keep students on path and in community. Those are not miracles; they’re execution. 

The budget cliff is the constraint that will keep pressing on every conversation—from class size to electives to counseling ratios. It will also tempt stakeholders to cannibalize each other’s priorities. Families can help by staying proximate to classrooms where small investments (a volunteers-run reading room, a bike-bus route, a weekend cleanup) create outsized value. 

And finally, the Cottonwood relocation is a reminder that schools are not islands. City decisions, federal policies, and neighborhood activism ripple across campuses fast. PPS’s reaffirmed protocols on immigration enforcement and data privacy are necessary guardrails; living them daily—calmly, lawfully, and with care for students who carry the heaviest fear—will matter more. 

Quick guide for families (clip and save)

1) Device-free during the day

Ask your school for its written plan, exceptions process, and where the pouch or storage area is in each classroom. Expect “bell-to-bell” enforcement this semester and full compliance by Jan. 1, 2026. 

2) Start-of-year dates

Most students begin Tuesday, Aug. 26; some secondary grades use “jump start” schedules. Check your school’s homepage and emails. 

3) Heat & air quality

Bookmark the PPS Heat Management page. Send students with refillable bottles and a hat; ask coaches about practice adjustments when the mercury soars. 

4) Getting to school

PBOT’s Safe Routes team has fresh August guidance and bike-bus info. If bussing, confirm stops in ParentVUE before day one. 

5) Stay plugged in

Set alerts for board public notices to track meetings on budgets, bonds, and policy deadlines. 

The bottom line

The last two months didn’t offer a tidy narrative: they delivered mandates and metrics, heat advisories and headline moments, a moving school and a moving target for enrollment. But they also produced a work plan. If Portland wants a district that parents pick on purpose, the path runs through focus in classrooms, clarity on phones, candor about budgets, and care for students who feel caught between civic storms and school routines.

The school year starts in six days. The real tests start in seven.

Reporting and sources: Superintendent kickoff details via KATU; state and district cellphone policy timelines via OPB and KPTV; phone-policy rollout context via Willamette Week; enrollment forecasts via Willamette Week analyses of PSU projections; district budget outlook via PPS budget portal, OPB and Willamette Week; August heat and county response via OPB and PPS operations; Cottonwood relocation via KGW and Street Roots; immigrant-rights protocols via OPB and PPS documents; logistics and schedules via PPS public notices, district homepage, PBOT Safe Routes, and PPS transportation resources. 

Editor’s note: This story covers Portland Public Schools (Portland School District 1J) in Oregon, commonly referred to as PPS.