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The Arts Access Fund, powered by the Arts Tax, will disburse $8.1 million to Portland’s six school districts and charter schools for the 2025-26 school year.
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Today, the City of Portland's Office of Arts & Culture is announcing that $8,127,508 will be distributed from the Arts Access Fund to Portland's six school districts and charter schools for the 2025-26 school year. Powered by the Arts Tax, schools will utilize these funds to pay elementary arts educators' salaries for the coming school year.
Portlanders voted to ensure that all K-5 students in Portland would have access to an arts education as part of their schooling when the Arts Tax ballot measure passed in 2012. The tax was collected for the first time in April 2013 and disbursed to Portland schools via the Arts Access Fund beginning in the 2013-14 school year. Much has changed since the fund's early years, locally, nationally, and globally, but young people in Portland continue to benefit from the community's collective investment in arts education and access.
"This year is really special—the students who were kindergarteners when Arts Access Fund disbursements began flowing into schools for the first time are seniors this year," said Dawn Isaacs, the City of Portland's arts education program manager. "We know access to the arts leads to higher engagement in school. The class of 2026 is the first to experience the benefit of an arts education from their first day of elementary school through their last day in high school."
The Arts Access Fund, which established a $35 income tax on eligible adults in Portland, serves more than 28,000 students across the city. Funds collected through the Arts Tax are distributed based on the number of students in each district and are used specifically to hire art and music teachers for kindergarten through fifth grade students at the Centennial, David Douglas, Parkrose, Portland Public, Reynolds, and Riverdale school districts. Schools receive enough funding to pay for one arts teacher, music or visual arts, per 500 elementary school students.
"Before the Arts Access Fund, our elementary schools had virtually no arts education. This fund has established and sustained arts education in every K-5 school across Portland Public Schools," Portland Public Schools' Director for Visual & Performing Arts Kristen Brayson said. "The arts are where children make sense of the world and connect to their own story and the stories of others. An arts education can develop students' unique identities, provide students with a sense of belonging, and encourage collaboration with peers. The gifts of this learning cannot be understated."
The Office of Arts & Culture also allocates up to 3% of net revenues to help coordinate arts education services and outcomes across the districts. As part of that effort, Isaacs, her partners at the six school districts, and PSU's Regional Research Institute spent the last year developing an arts education framework. During the 2025-26 school year, Portland schools will participate in the pilot implementation of the framework, and fully implement the following year, in an effort to create a common definition and set of metrics for assessing excellence in arts education.
More about the Arts Access Fund
What is the Arts Access Fund?
The City of Portland's Arts Access Fund ensures that students in Portland have access to the arts as part of their K-5 education. This collective fund, powered by the Arts Tax, is broad, efficient, and unique to Portland, impacting every public elementary school student in the city.
How does the Arts Access Fund work?
First, the City of Portland's Revenue Bureau collects the Arts Tax and subtracts collection costs. Second, funds are distributed to Portland schools via the Arts Access Fund. The ballot measure and City Code stipulate that school districts receive enough funding for one elementary arts FTE per 500 students. Third, funds are set aside for the Office of Arts & Culture's arts education coordination work. Lastly, remaining funds are awarded to Portland based arts organizations through the Office of Arts & Culture's grantmaking programs.
Which schools and organizations receive Arts Tax funds?
Funded by an annual income tax of $35 per adult in Portland (known as the Arts Tax), the Arts Access Fund supports arts and music education in K-5 schools and grantmaking to support local nonprofit arts organizations. On the grantmaking side, the Arts Access Fund fuels the City's General Operating Support and its Small Grants for Artists & Arts Organizations programs. A list of all schools and grantees that received Arts Tax funds for 2025-26 can be found on our website.
What is the impact of an arts education?
Seeing children as artists, musicians, and performers now—not tomorrow, not later—is vital to creating an ecosystem where young people can flourish creatively. With community support for the Arts Tax, which was passed by voters in 2012, Portlanders said they would listen to children's voices, hear their stories, and validate their artistic expressions. To hear from several students, in their own words, click the learn more button below.