Portland Public Schools will try to more than double reading and math proficiency rates for three traditionally underserved student populations by 2022, a move Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero said is “unprecedented.”

But there’s only so much money — and so many resources — to go around.

That’s the message Portland schools officials and board members sent to about a dozen parents and students demanding district leaders fast-track plans to meet state guidelines for talented and gifted programs.

“Lord knows there’s endless need out there,” school board member Rita Moore said. “We’re going to be in the hot seat. We’re going to need to make some difficult decisions.”

The two priorities quietly came into conflict Tuesday as the board unveiled its goal to drastically boost proficiency rates in third-grade reading and fifth-grade math for black, Latino and migrant students.

Only around 19% of black third graders met state benchmarks for reading in 2018, according to district figures, compared to 74% of their white peers. Thirty-four percent of Latinos met the same standard as did 19% of migrant students.

The gulf was similar that year in math proficiency for fifth graders: 12% for black students compared to 61% of their white peers. Twenty-three percent of Latinos meet state standards and fewer than 11 migrant students tested.

Those low rates, district leaders and board members said, marked an imperative for voters to renew a five-year property tax levy in November to fund teacher salaries.

“Those are pretty aggressive margins of improvement overall, but I think we all feel the urgency regarding how some of our students are far behind,” Guerrero said.

Board members and district officials said those student groups should be a priority during the drafting of the 2019-20 budget, when Portland Public Schools can tap into its portion of a $1 billion per year corporate tax to boost state education funding, known as the Student Success Act, passed by Oregon legislators this year.

District leaders said they wanted to perform a full-court press to post gains in those demographics by the 2022 academic year. But Guerrero cautioned that progress may not be apparent immediately even after teachers and administrators get the training they need to focus on those underserved student populations.

“You’re not going to see this perfect diagonal line of student improvement,” he said.

Still, a group of 27 parents filed an official complaint alleging district officials knowingly fall short of state standards for talented and gifted programing year after year. The school board on Tuesday was considering the district’s response, which called for a five-year plan to achieve compliance.

Colleen McCormick, a district parent, said there were small steps the district could take immediately to mitigate the concerns of students recognized as talented and gifted.

She suggested schools could group students of similar talent levels together and that school officials could be clearer in their communication about the program.

District officials said they’ll be in compliance with state TAG standards by the 2024-25 school year. And Guerrero proffered that there’s really only one way to reach that goal sooner.

“Additional resourcing would allow us to accelerate the proposed five-year plan,” he said.

The group of parents who lodged an official complaint with the district said they’re ready to take their grievances to the state.

District officials and school board members said the immediate priority was boosting math and reading proficiency for those traditionally underserved student groups. Details were scant on how those gains would be achieved.

“We’re starting to sketch out what some of those strategies look like,” Guerrero said.

The district also faces an added challenge in that some students are so far behind their peers that they’ll need a larger investment before they begin to improve.

“These gaps are so large, you’re not going to reach these targets by reaching kids on the bubble,” Guerrero said.

District officials said they wanted to tackle those gaps in part by shifting resources to underperforming schools. A cash infusion from the state’s corporate tax package would also bolster the district’s efforts, officials said.