The Portland school board approved its 2026-27 budget late Tuesday night after restoring several positions that had been cut under previous iterations.

The final budget of $179.3 million would increase the property tax rate by 5.68%. That would mean an annual increase of $229 for the median Portland homeowner. The budget now moves to the City Council before going to voters in June.

Through a series of amendments, the board restored two central office positions, a mobile makerspace position (with half of the funding coming from the nonprofit Foundation for Portland Public Schools) a half-time Latin teacher position at Portland High School and a half-time guidance counselor at the same school.

The board also scrapped a planned $250,000 savings from closing the district’s central office, but committed to continuing discussions about vacating the Cumberland Avenue building. The office is owned by the city, which has expressed interest in using the space as a family shelter after its current lease is up in June. The district would save money on operational costs by giving it up.

Board Chair Sarah Lentz said removing those savings from the budget reflects uncertainty about the timeline in which the city will make its decision, but does not take vacating the office off the table. Other board members affirmed their interest in leaving the building, which they said is not a suitable work space. The city is planning in May to take up the topic of using the space as a shelter.

The board also included a plan to raise an estimated $250,000 in revenue through more efficient billing for MaineCare-eligible services. Lentz said the district needs to get better at taking advantage of the funding for services that can be reimbursed by the state Medicaid program.

“We have so few levers of revenue to pull on, that we need to pull on this one,” Lentz said of that plan.

The board made other changes to the budget, including the inclusion of $420,000 in funds from the state supplemental budget passed last week and the removal of some proposed early child care positions based on state feedback. It also added about $100,000 to the health insurance budget after getting information about health care premiums, which came in higher than anticipated.

Several amendments to make cuts at the administrative level were rejected.

The final budget still cuts several positions in both the central office and in schools, many of which are currently vacant.

“Those were not easy cuts,” Portland Superintendent Ryan Scallon said. “Behind every line in this budget is a person, a teacher, a counselor and head tech, an HR analyst or a data manager, who shows up every day for our students and for our staff.”

Amid its budget process, the school board also passed a resolution to study a reorganization of its three middle schools. Originally written with the intention of consolidating the number of middle schools to two, the final version approved by the board directs the superintendent to deliver a report to the board by October, and does not mention reducing the number of schools.

Throughout the budget season, board members and Scallon have called upon the state Legislature to reform its school funding formula, which Portland district leaders say doesn’t account for the district’s needs because of its reliance on property valuations.

Earlier Tuesday, lawmakers did pass a bill to reform the formula, and Gov. Janet Mills committed to signing it, although the changes will not take effect until 2027.