Portland voters approved the school district’s budget Tuesday night with about 78% support, according to unofficial election results.

The vote was 15,149 for and 4,313 against (628 ballots were left blank). Citywide turnout topped 47%, a big leap from the last budget referendum, an off-year vote that saw turnout of less than 10%.

The $179.3 million budget comes with a 5.68% increase in the school portion of the property tax rate, which translates to an additional $201 a year for a median-priced $566,600 home.

City voters typically approve the budget by wide margins, although this year threatened to be the exception. After a difficult budget process that included cuts to many positions — spurred by a loss of $4 million in state funding related to declining enrollment — the Portland teachers union called on city voters to reject the budget on May 26, citing cuts to student-facing positions and a top-heavy administration.

However, a week later and just seven days before the vote, the union and district announced they had reached an agreement. At the next finance committee meeting, the district committed to adding back five ed tech positions, and to looking at cost cuts in the central office next year; the union endorsed the budget, and encouraged people to vote ‘yes.’

This was a difficult budget year for districts across the state, as they dealt with dropping enrollment, increasing healthcare costs and an outdated state funding formula. Reforms of that formula, passed by lawmakers this session, will go into effect for the 2027-28 school year, and Portland expects to receive a boost in state funding when it does.

Before a City Council vote on the budget, Superintendent Ryan Scallon said, “the challenge of this budget is one of managing both fiscal stewardship and experiences and outcomes of our students.” The chair of the school board, Sarah Lentz, said the district had to make difficult tradeoffs, but hoped the public would see that the budget aligned with Portland’s strategic priorities.

The budget referendum hit an additional snag this year when the city determined 650 voters who returned their ballots before the City Council finalized the budget would have to re-do their votes.