Tualatin High School students are pushing back on how the Tigard-Tualatin School District chose to close a $5.5 million budget gap for the 2026-27 school year.
Two opinion pieces published Aug. 24 in The Wolf, the school's student newspaper, argue that the district's decision to eliminate 21 full-time positions landed hardest on teachers and classroom programs. Nineteen of those positions were instructional, according to the pieces and a Your Oregon News report from April.
Special education staffing under scrutiny
Student writer Braden Hudspeth focused on special education staffing. He argued that the district leans on special education teachers' dedication as a reason not to fight for better pay or smaller caseloads. Administrators and budget committees often describe those teachers by saying, "Those teachers do it because they love it," Hudspeth wrote.
"It's intended as a compliment. It functions as an excuse," he wrote.
Hudspeth also wrote that "a vast amount of TTSD's money goes straight towards administration with some salary positions costing upwards of $200,000." That figure could not be verified from available public records as of Aug. 31. The district posts a fiscal accountability document on its website, but specific administrator salary data was not confirmed.
Board vote and district scope
The school board voted April 6 to approve the reduction in force, according to Your Oregon News. The cuts addressed the $5.5 million shortfall across the district's 19 schools, which serve about 11,433 students in Tigard, Tualatin, Bull Mountain and Durham.
Board chair defends the cuts
A companion Wolf opinion piece by student Max Harden criticized the broader pattern of cuts, including the elimination of theater classes and teaching positions. School Board Chair Jill Zurschmeide addressed the cuts at a board meeting. "None of us want to do this, but we all know we have to do this ... This is what the grownups in the room have to do," Zurschmeide said, according to Harden's Aug. 24 piece.
Teachers "underpaid, undervalued," writer says
Hudspeth wrote that the problems extend beyond special education. "Nearly everything I've described here applies to teachers across the board," he wrote. "They are underpaid, undervalued and expected to absorb the cost of a system that runs on their dedication."
Unanswered questions
The district employs about 1,500 staff members, according to its website. No district response to the students' arguments appears in public records. How many of the eliminated positions were specifically special education roles has not been publicly disclosed.
